Twisted Midnight
by Vanessa Tolins
Summary: It had been exactly five days since I had chained him to me, exactly five days since he had been released from imprisonment as one usually thinks of the word’s meaning. Now he was in a different form of imprisonment, and if I had been//Yaoi
1. Twisted Midnight::Chapter One

**Author's Notes**;;

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Death Note or any of the characters. I'm just a fan and have no way to get you in contact with anyone, even if I wish I could. :)th

**Warning 1**: This fic is rated M for Mature content. If you're below age, you should guide yourself away from this story. The mature content (Adult Language, Adult contents...) may not be in this chapter but will be in future chapters. I will post a new warning for chapters that have it within.

**Warning 2**: This fic may contain spoilers.

**Note 1**: This fic takes place while the two are chained. So, in other words, this is set during the time in which Light has forfeited the Death Note and his memories.

**Note 2**: I really really like reviews. Why? It keeps me on the right track and keeps me motivated to write more. Your thoughts are always appreciated.

**Note 3**: I have read the Manga, seen the Anime and the movies and will be taking things from each and blending the things I liked best from each. This may wind up slightly A/U, so this is the only warning about that which I will give. Please do not get angry at me for not sticking to the Manga or w/e, this is my story. However, any constructive criticism, questions or just plain comments are always welcome. ^_^

And now for the story:

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Chapter One:

It had been exactly five days since I had chained him to me, exactly five days since he had been released from imprisonment as one usually thinks of the word's meaning. Now he was in a different form of imprisonment, and if I had been in his position I'm not sure which would have been worse for me. True enough he went to both willingly, almost too willingly, although the obvious drive to clear his name was evident in his eyes. But was that drive there because he was truly innocent, or was the drive there because he was guilty and wished nothing more than to clear suspicion on him so he might resume his active role in the killings perpetrated by the mass-murderer proclaimed 'Kira?' Some said he was a homicidal maniac; others dedicated websites to him and praised him like a god. But I knew better. Kira was most definitely homicidal, and he wasn't a god. Kira was human. On top of that, in regards to being homicidal, he _was_ a maniac, but he was not yet a maniac in true. He had a cool, calculating mind beneath whatever face lurked in the shadows, and the level of genius was rare and far between. There was only one person in the world that I had met that had the potential to outshine even me in the department of intelligence, and he was chained to my wrist on suspicion of being Kira.

There were times when I was positive he was Kira, but the amount of physical evidence that was not in my possession was over-whelming, and then there were the times when doubt would flood my mind and senses and scream at me that I had the wrong man –_ I_ had made a mistake. At the moment my biggest failure was asleep, and so I was left alone with naught other than my thoughts to entertain me. Most would presume that I liked to sit and think, which was often true enough, but boredom settled into the pit of my stomach as gentle snores wafted through the air like something tangible enough to slice with a knife. It didn't help that I had been feeling rather restless as of late, and his snoring had been something that either infuriated me or something I could detach myself from completely. The result, of course, depended upon my mood. And at the moment agitation was the feeling that won me over, but I didn't know why.

Another thought process to follow into the recesses of my mind in self-evaluation was what was promised by this flittering in my stomach that caused my blood to boil as the palpable snores drilled into my very skull with their repetition. The chain rattled between us, slithering over the bed sheets as Light flipped onto his stomach, jerking my right wrist with him as the chain lay passively across his back, but my scowl only deepened, brow furrowing as my fingers itched to wring his neck. They itched, too, for keys to stroke but the sound of the tapping would keep the teenager awake and I had learned over the first few days this was not a good thing. A Light low on sleep was thoroughly un-productive when it came to the investigation and often irritable, no matter the amount of coffee consumed. What was it that made him require so much sleep, anyway? I could go for days, no, perhaps longer than a week without a wink of it. True enough my eyes would droop, and eventually I would crack and break like any other human and slumber, but catching small naps once in a while was more sufficient than society's preordained box of eight hours a night.

Ah, a more comforting thought process to follow, an escape from what otherwise would have followed as self-criticism as I chased this new train instead. Following the curving tracks away from myself and towards society, instead of the knotted and twisted tracks within myself, I wondered why people did so much to fit into the aforementioned box. Their whole lives were lived in imprisonment and they weren't even aware of it. It was the reason I was stared at whenever I went outside into what Aizawa referred to as the 'real world.' It was the reason people muttered and whispered about 'that odd man who looked like he'd rolled out of bed and hadn't even showered.' It wasn't that I didn't shower, nor did I wear the same _clothes_ every day, I just didn't see the point in anything else. The jeans and white, long-sleeved t-shirt and light blue boxers were my outfit of preference and I truly didn't own anything else. I just owned a multitude of those particular articles of clothing. And although I often fell asleep in my clothes, I did shower once a day (unless I truly had more pressing matters) and after the shower I _would_ change into a fresh set of jeans, shirt and boxers. No one other than Watari and the other boys at the orphanage had had reason to know this, at least, that was before I'd chained Light Yagami into a new kind of imprisonment. Firmly attached to my wrist by way of his own left wrist, the boy had been driving me insane from day one.

Light Yagami was one of those people that liked to appear as if he belonged within the box. I was convinced he'd managed to find a way to sneak out, to keep the façade up that he lived and breathed the air inside the box, but he really snuck out and while garbed in his label clothing, hair neatly brushed, he committed the worst of both crime and sin. If Light was Kira, than he was murdering people. And yet Light's father's words came back to me now and again. It was not the person who killed that was evil, but the power to kill that was the root of the trouble. And so the question became which had come first, the chicken or the egg? Or had the two been born together? No, if that had been the case then the murders would have begun long, long ago. That would mean that Kira had been killing since he was old enough to know someone's name and realize it went with the person's face. And both I and Light agreed that Kira was definitely in either High School or College, perhaps Middle School.

There were often times when I wanted to pull at the black tresses adorning my own head and scream in frustration. I'd never had a room-mate before and, while I understood the need for adjusting to the existence of someone else being within a six-foot radius of myself twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, it was a lot more frustrating than I had ever imagined. And it hadn't even _been _a week yet! And the constant mind-games we often had between us had not only intensified, but neither of us had much time to rest our brains from the constant assaults from each other that it was no small wonder that, even now when I had some time to rest and have time away from Light's mental attacks, my mind still raced in thought. I had become somewhat accustomed, adjusted, to the constant thinking required to both withstand the testing of he who might be Kira and yet to test him in return that in my time away from all of that my mind was still too active to let me truly rest. And then there were the times when I had other thoughts of my suspect that I knew I shouldn't have.

My lips curved into a small smile as I recalled the first time I had laid eyes on Light Yagami. The chestnut-brown hair and matching eyes on the monitor were set on features fairer than those of any Prince from any fairy-tale, and yet my task dominated my thought processes so nothing further could penetrate until the second to last day. It was one of those fleeting and rare moments when his eyes, knowingly or unknowingly, had stared directly into one of the many cameras set up in his room and my world stopped spinning. And while I had protested that I had not chained Light to me because I _wanted_ to, there was a small part of me that was happy with the situation that was apart from detective holding captive his suspect. And that was a part of me I didn't want to delve too deeply into. It was easy to see how people might find Light attractive, and I had been attracted to people in the past. It hadn't happened often, but I had had my own celebrity crushes, but they hadn't really formed until I had read interviews. No, that was untrue, there were several that had formed before the interviews had begun, and some most of those dissipated as soon as the idiot or moron had opened their mouths, but there had been the rare occasion where the words they spoke only made me like them more. And I had also noticed that among those I found most appealing physically, most were of the male variety.

I was not a perfect person and I had my faults, like any other human, but even I had to wonder at the ludicrous situation I found myself in because I couldn't deny that I was attracted to Light. I had hoped it would subside like all my previous attractions once I got to know him, or after I had gotten bored of him, but it hadn't. It had only intensified upon meeting him in person and learning that his mind may truly have been a match for mine; may even surpass my own, something I was loathe to admit. But I had always been good at compartmentalizing, and I could work around this attraction. I could bury it so far within me that I could ignore it completely at times. I could never forget, for it always burned within me, no matter how I tried to thwart or dampen the flame. I had starved this flame of what I thought it needed to survive, but it still flickered within me.

I leaned back, arms wrapping almost protectively around my shins and chin resting on my knees as my hair hit the headboard of the bed softly and I realized I had traveled the tracks of self-inspection despite my longing for otherwise. Not only that, but I had come to one of the largest tangles that the train had been forced to stop altogether. And I had a choice: I could try and unknot it so the train could continue its dangerous route, or I could turn away and put this all in the back of my mind into the 'think about later' section that was feeling rather crowded as of late. My toes shifted, curling in and out as if without my active knowledge and when my eyes caught them even that small quirk annoyed me and I ceased them. I had plenty of bad habits, and that was least among them, but turning my attentions on something small and not worth mentioning was a distraction from where my thoughts had been previously. Much like the thoughts about society should have been, but my train had re-routed itself back to what I didn't want to think about. I often wondered if that was why thoughts did things like that. If one consciously didn't want to think about something, what was the subconscious doing, what was it _thinking_? Did_ it_ want to think about it, and if it thought about it enough was that was pushed it to the conscious level? Perhaps, but not enough scientific fact was known about the subconscious yet.

As it was, the boy to my right seven years my junior, was the cause for my cease of thoughts for which I was grateful. He had moved again, and with a grim satisfaction I noticed his eyes flutter open and he pressed his face into the pillow, groaning almost inaudibly. Light was more than my suspect, he was the closest thing I had ever had to a friend. I had once called him a friend, but I doubt either of us really believed it. Other than Watari, Light truly was almost a friend. If we perhaps trusted each other more then we would be friends without any doubts between, but that could never happen unless he or I could prove him innocent; and I was trying my utmost to prove the opposite. "Are you alright?" I asked calmly, head tilted to the side as I leaned all my weight on me feet and turned to face him, thumb practically in my mouth as my eyes widened to take in all of his actions. Anything was suspect; after all, he was probably Kira. The percentages were not in his favor, a fact I was keen to prove yet, if I had to do so, my life would be changed irrevocably.

"Ryuzaki-kun," his muffled voice permeated through the pillow it spoke through. "It's almost four in the morning and I'm awake, but otherwise I'm fine. But I do have to go to the bathroom." I watched as the pillow was shoved aside and Light's face emerged once again, sleep still in his eyes as he flipped his legs over the side of the bed and stood, stretching. He began to walk, having to go around the bed and the chain wrapped around one of the posts before jerking the boy to a halt and I smiled. It wasn't a nice smile, it was an _I'm deliberately pissing you off_ type of smile. "Oh, come on! It is way too early in the morning for this!" His voice was stronger now, angry, which seemed fitting. My own sour mood sprung forth as I planted myself more firmly on the bed and just kept smiling at him, testing to see how angry he would get. "R-Ryuzaki-kun." He tugged on the chain and I didn't move; I showed him no reaction as he tugged several more times. I could feel the metal digging into my wrist and knew he was attempting to get me to move with pain, so I kept that smile plastered on my face until he kicked at the foot of the bed. He swore as he hurt his toe against the wood and I finally stood up, lifting my wrist so the chain went over the top of the poles before jumping off my own side of the bed and beginning the ten-foot walk towards the bathroom as if I'd intended to go there all along. On the bright side, for me, he was awake now and because of that we could get to work. I didn't plan on letting him go back to sleep.

The door to the bathroom was located next to the closet, so I took the time to unlock the cuff around my wrist long enough to take off yesterday's shirt and slip on a fresh one. Then I changed boxers and pulled on some jeans. Why the _Hell_ was Light so damned slow? Checking my watch I noticed barely two minutes had elapsed and at last the mechanical sound of a toilet flushing graced my ears and the door opened. "No…no." His voice, higher in pitch than my own, was clearly in protest as much as his eyes betrayed his distress. "Why are you all dressed?"

"Why do you think, Light-kun?" I asked, head tilting towards my left shoulder as I stared at him in my usual unblinking fashion. And then before he could utter a word of reply I added, "It's morning! Therefore," my right hand raised and one finger pointed straight up, surrounded by the nothingness that was air. Then again, air wasn't exactly nothing, but that was a train of thought for another time. "Therefore," I continued, "it's time for work! Kira won't catch himself, after all." And so I watched as he picked out clothing for the day in a painstakingly slow sort of way and undid the clasp on his wrist long enough for him to change shirts before clanking it back on. Out of the respect he 'requested,' I turned around as he switched boxers and put on khaki pants that apparently 'went with' his brown sweater. And then I walked towards the computer that was in our room and turned on the monitor, connecting to the network

With a few more simple keystrokes I permeated password protected file after password protected file and barely blinked when I heard, from my right, "Ryuzaki-kun…I need – coffee. Yes, coffee, I need to stay awake. Or maybe even a shower. I can't just get up and go like you can!"

I turned my neck slowly so I could face him and blinked once, twice, and then turned back to the computer and brought up several pie-charts that depicted the deaths of criminals lately. After a minute I stood and locked the station and said, "Coffee it is, I could use some breakfast, anyway. We can shower later before the others get here."

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Author's Note (again):

THANKS FOR READING!!! Please tell me your thoughts if you've got the time or inclination. I promise, good things are on the way in chapters to come ;)


	2. Twisted Midnight::Chapter Two

**Author's Note**;;

Shorter than the last chapter, I know. But the next one will make up for it.

**_MarkoftheBeast_**;; I love you too. And I never had any intention of bringing _that_ into this story, but now I shall have to make a small reference somewhere in this fic just for you. ^-^

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Chapter Two:

Two slices of strawberry shortcake, eleven jolly ranchers and nine panda cookies later I dislodged a small lollipop from between my lips, holding it aloft between right thumb and forefinger so I could speak unimpeded, and I stood up. "They'll be here in forty-five minutes. Let's go shower." I smirked as he was jolted out of his thoughts, the Linux operating system in front of him text-based and requiring little thought as he tore his gaze from the text-based system and stood as well, stretching. The motion gave me a glimpse of that the tanned skin above the top of his pants and I began walking, feeling petty all over again and for what? Because he'd merely stretched? I was feeling resentful towards him, but it wasn't like he'd _made_ me like him. No, that was apparently out of either of our control, and I knew from his relationship history he'd dated his fair share of women; there was _no way_ he'd ever be interested in me. Alas, that conclusion being reached was for the best, but it didn't mean I had to like it.

"Oy…Ryuuzaki," I heard, and I didn't pause as the chain became taut between us and he stumbled a bit before returning to his usual gait and walked behind me. "If you said before that Kira won't catch himself, and you think that _I_ am Kira, then why the morning enthusiasm to catch him? Also, you haven't been very enthusiastic lately in regards to the chase, so why this morn-"

I cut him off and waved a hand as if dismissively, talking around the lollipop that was back in its rightful place in my mouth. "I just needed to get out of bed. I merely used the Kira chase as bait for you to move, Light-kun. So, in other words," I paused in both speech and movement, turning my head to the side so I could see him out of my peripheral vision. The sudden stop almost made him crash into me, but he didn't. "I was bored," I finished, before taking a few more steps and reaching for the handle for the bathroom door. I heard him mutter 'Bastard' under his breath and my smile only broadened.

It was a large bathroom and the shower itself was made with the mind-set that I would have to share it. It was six feet by four feet and on the walls of each end was a shower-head. This way there was no 'taking turns' or needing to share a cramped space and a lone shower-head. No, this way we could each have our space and shower at the same time. The nuisance of having to take off the cuffs momentarily so we could take off our shirts in shifts over with after a few clumsy minutes, it had only been five days, after all, and we hadn't yet established the level of comfort required for the ease in which it would go swifter and then we were in the shower. We did seem to establish which side of the shower would belong to whom, though, and that had been done rather quickly. We each had our own shampoo and soap, and any other various _things_ we would need and the longest we had taken so far was twenty minutes.

The hot water felt nice and the shower was one of the few places I actually truly liked to relax, but that was made difficult due to the boy-genius chained to me. "Uh…Ryuuzaki-kun," I heard and grunted in reply as if saying _go on_… "I'm out of soap, let me use yours." An indescribable and rather alarming urge to take the soap and wash him myself came over me and I fought it back, merely handing it to him before turning back to my own shower. Where had that come from? I knew the answer but refused to think overly long on it, grabbing the organic shampoo next to me that smelled of strawberries and cream. "Thanks," I heard, and felt the soap pressed back into my hand and I lathered up quickly, trying not to think of the places this soap had been in.

_Stop it_, I berated myself silently and turned off my own shower-head and heard him doing the same. Grabbing two towels I tossed him one before wrapping one solidly around my waist. Watari often said I was too thin, and I agreed, but it wasn't for lack of eating on my part that this occurred. It was probably some part of my genetic make-up that caused my rather alarming appearance. I threw on the clothing I had been wearing before the shower and shrugged when Light said he was going to get fresh clothing. But I followed him out to the wardrobe as he picked out brown pants and a white dress shirt, brown jacket going over it and then he started on his hair. Honestly, what was the _point_? We were just going to go down stairs to headquarters anyway! It wasn't like he was seeing anyone new or special today, he had no one to impress. Besides, the most impressive thing about him was his _mind_. Aside from that, the clothing was just dressing. Well, I did have to admit, he was good-looking. But I knew his mind was one of the things that caused me to like him more.

Another week passed, pressing us into August, and it passed without consequence where anything might be concerned. Still no Kira, unless you counted the boy shackled to me, but the current murdering bastard was still afoot and we had made no progress in capturing him. Still no nearer finding the method by which Kira could kill, either. Light and I were on our way back downstairs, kitchen our eventual goal, and we had just come from his second date with Misa since confinement. The fake blonde had complained the half the allotted time that I had been there, and I didn't think that would change until their imprisonment ceased, and nothing new regarding Kira had been shown to me during the exchange between Light and the bottle-blonde moron. And she was an idiot, I didn't see how Light put up with her or why he was dating her. I could hear the undercurrents of boredom and unease in his voice when he spoke to her; merely speaking to keep her satisfied that he was listening to the words coming out of her obnoxious lips.

But it really was Light's choice who he spent his time with, aside from me, of course. Being chained to me left him little option when it came to that, and until his name was cleared the chain would remain steadfastly connecting us via our wrists. "Light-kun," I began, my voice soft. "May I ask you a question?"

As we reached the main office I pulled open the door and heard, "Of course. Although you do realize you just asked me one?" I stopped and let the door close once more, turning to face him and the smirk slipped off of his face as his chestnut eyes met my black ones. "Uh…what is it, Ryuuzaki-kun?"

I wondered how to phrase this without being rude, or seeming more interested than I should be by pressing into his personal life, but finally was blunt about it. "What do you see in Misa-chan? Why are you dating her? She's hardly in your league, Takada-san was a much better choice; you and Misa-chan barely talk about much of anything important. Why are you with her?" He seemed relatively stumped and I changed my tactic, smiling slightly now. "I mean, go with me on this theory a moment. If you had been Kira and she had been Second Kira but neither of you could remember that, would that be sufficient reasons enough to date her? Although now that you and she can no longer remember, why stay together? Why remember at all that you _were_ together? Why the obvious façade and pretense of liking her when you don't? I thought you said you wouldn't manipulate her."

He blinked in confusion and frowned, looking away. "Well, I – there are endearing qualities about her." My smile only widened as I could practically hear him thinking _there must be _and _now only if I could think of them_. My victory in this word game felt apparent, and then he spoke once more. "She's, well, she's cute and I did like her at first. She has more intelligence than you give her credit for, Ryuuzaki-kun." I watched as he took a deep breath and added, "Besides, she's obviously infatuated with me. I can't just dump her, even if I no longer feel how I used to feel about her." His eyes narrowed suspiciously and he said, "And why are you so suddenly interested my motives for being with her, anyway? And your theory is flawed, Ryuuzaki-kun." I lifted an eyebrow, blinking once as if to say _go on_. "I'm not Kira," he growled and I chuckled.

"Relax, Light-kun. If you are or aren't Kira the truth will eventually reveal itself. Now, as for Misa-chan and yourself, I have always wondered. Your behavior and dating patterns changed drastically around the time you met Misa-chan. I always thought Takada-san was more your type, Light-kun." I shrugged half-heartedly, a nonchalant gesture that meant nothing and everything all at once as we warred verbally. "Misa-chan is just a bit more air-headed than the other girls you dated at the time. She rather stuck out, so to speak."

Ah, and now he was getting angry again, a tint of red in his eyes a bit more obvious than usual and I thought he was going to punch me. But he didn't, apparently he was restraining himself from the act which I was annoyed with and grateful for. Grateful because I didn't feel like having bruises, but annoyed because I was feeling anxious and tense and thought a fight with Light would probably settle a few of our issues and my own ones as well. "What makes you think you know what my type is, anyway? I would think I know myself a little bit better than you would!"

I merely shrugged again and said, "Well, you and I are similar Light-kun. Perhaps I am mistaken, and she truly is your type. Or perhaps you thought she was your type when you met her, as you hinted at earlier, and now you've gotten to know her you've realized she isn't who you thought she was. Judging from the types of girls you dated aside from Misa-chan I have deduced she is not your type and I know you are unhappy with her. Aside from that I, for one, would not be your type." I watched as a blush crept up his neck and colored those golden cheeks and he opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. In all honestly, apart from his obvious gender of preference (and the minor detail that I was trying to get him convicted on charges of murder) I _was _his type. But that road would only lead to ruin, and his reaction to my words was not what I had been expecting as I reached for the handle and opened the door, taking a step into the main office and felt his fist connect with my back.

I went flying forwards across the threshold and felt the chain pull him down with me as he landed mostly on top of me, the door hitting us both as I clamored out from beneath him and noticed he had risen to his knees. My foot connected with his jaw and his head knocked back as he fell onto his ass. He got back to his feet and then we were a tangle of kicking, punching and writhing limbs on the ground. Fists and feet attempted to connect with any part of the other person we could find as we ignored the other members of the Task Force team who at first stood by, watching as if unsure of what to say or do. I emerged victorious and breathless after almost a full minute of our scuffle and sat on his legs, hands around both his wrists and I leaned forward and whispered in his ear, "According to that reaction, I was incorrect. Very interesting, Light-kun."

I stood up before he could retaliate and headed to my normal seat, ignoring the aches and pains that plagued my body and knew they would feel much worse later. But for now I resumed my role as L., the world's best three detectives, and my long fingers snaked out to key the computer to life. "That was unprofessional, Ryuuzaki." The voice on the computer came from Watari, and I merely shrugged and ignored him. A small voice inside my head was cheering at a completely separate victory than the physical one I had just won. There was a chance he _liked_ me.

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Again, THANKS for reading!!! Reviews are _my_ strawberry cheesecake. :D


	3. Twisted Midnight::Chapter Three

**Author's Note**;;

Whoah, third chapter. The story is taking off much better than I had anticipated. I'm EXTREMELY happy about this! I've never actually gotten reviews before, which then led to me giving up on the project. But this time I just have a big, corny smile on my face!

There's something very personal about writing in the first person, and my usual style is third. I write in first once in a while, but had intended on writing this third. But when I started typing L just wanted to speak lol. SO, you've got his POV. Any thoughts on this?

On a really random _other_ note, the reason I'm writing this at all is because I got an idea one random night and got a certain scene in my head. I could picture it so vividly and I just said "I HAVE to write that!" But I couldn't just write that scene, so, naturally, here's the back-story. When I get to the chapter in which the scene is, I'll let you know.

**Niphaxlia**;; Words like yours are what makes writing this story worth it. Thanks  
**MarkoftheBeast**;; I love _you_ more, especially since you keep leaving reviews. ^-^  
Oh, and I should add, Mwahahahaha, yes it's marked M for a reason, but I have to build the story up. I have every intention of things, ah, heating up within the next few chapters, we'll see if the characters allow me to do so. And yeah, Misa is, well, fwreklgjklajklgjil -- that pretty much sums it up. ;P

Now, like I said, this chapter will be long. Hope you're up for it!

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Chapter Three:

For now I was more than willing to overlook the repercussions of my current predicament. Ignorance was bliss, after all, even if it_ were_ self-induced. Perhaps I was nothing more than a glutton for punishment, but as Light settled into his usual seat next to me I could feel the waves of anger palpable in the air between us. This was far from over, but with the rest of the team shooting us odd glances I didn't particularly feel like getting into another 'fight' with the brunette and then having to explain ourselves, which the others would undoubtedly ask into. Even now, Matsuda and Light's father, Souichiro, were making their way toward us.

"What was that all about?" Mr. Yagami asked at the same time Matsuda looked towards Mogi and said, "Damn!" Matsuda handed over some money to Mogi as if they'd been betting on the fight, and I smiled again, my chair spinning and I tilted my head up to look at them. The look in Mr. Yagami's eyes made me want to sink into my seat for hurting Light, but I held my ground as well as my blank facial expression. I vaguely wondered what Mr. Yagami would say if I _did_ tell him what the fight had truly been about.

"Yagami-san, no worries. That…well, let's just say the past five days have been trying. It's not easy having to live with someone you barely know, and Light-kun picked a fight over, well, we'll leave it at that." I spun my chair back around in a clear signal that said _get back to work_, and grabbed a new lollipop, my old one having disappeared somewhere on the floor. Chocolate and strawberry flooded my mouth and I winced as a cut on the inside of my mouth hit the sticky pop. Apparently I'd cut the inside of my cheek on my teeth, and I pouted, switching the sweet to the other side of my mouth as I worked. Light was still angry at me, but I knew a person could only be angry for so long. If ignored, eventually they give up on their anger. Well, usually, anyway. For all I knew, Light may very well be the exception rather than the rule.

Time passed in its usual crawling fashion as nothing earth-shattering or new came to light, and I had to admit I was bored. I was also taking a private case on under one of my aliases the other team members weren't aware of yet. And so Deneuve's work was to be done in secret. And thus I got more funding as I solved another crime while still helping as much as possible with the Kira case.

Hours later as we made the walk back to our shared room I decided to test him once again. Gauging his reactions to almost everything was the only surefire way to understand him, and if I could understand him then I would be able to understand better the first Kira. He _had _been Kira, of that I was certain. But without him remembering any of it, and without the murder weapon, I had no choice but to wait for more evidence.

"I saved a little girl today. She had been kidnapped, and the police in America were at a loss. A Senator's daughter." And it was true. Solving these kinds of cases gave me a warm feeling inside I didn't think anything could ever top. It reminded me why I did this to begin with, while the Kira case only caused distress lately. I was at odds with myself.

"That…that's amazing, you were able to solve the case from here? I mean…" I smiled as he must be recalling words I spoke to him once about other L's; that we were an organization. I merely shrugged and let him think what he wanted to believe, finally reaching our rooms. In fact, this was the only set of rooms without surveillance cameras everywhere. "Do you have people working for you there?"

I shook my head, "The police there are very helpful. And they follow instructions well enough as well as send me any data I require. It was simple enough to figure out once I had the where and when, along with a list of people close to the family. There is a saying, 'Keep your friends close," I paused and sat on the edge of the bed, tugging suddenly on the chain as Light stumbled towards me. "And your enemies closer." I tilted my head as I reached into my pocket, pulling out a jolly rancher and undoing the wrapper in my usual fashion and popped the green candy in my mouth.

"Are we enemies, Ruuzaki-kun? Or…are we friends?" I felt my heart skip a beat as his eyes burned into mine and I swear I forgot to breathe for a few moments. It might as well have been days, for all I cared, and I finally smiled up at him.

My right hand raised and the chain jingled between us and I finally spoke. "Your closest friends often wind up being your strongest of enemies, Light-kun." I stood up, which made the short distance between us shorten even further and actually stood up. I didn't slouch, for once, and I realized I was slightly taller than he was. I took a small step forward so that a hard breath would cause us to touch and softly resumed speaking. "But I suppose we are acquaintances. I think we could have been friends, if…" I trailed off, finishing the thought mentally. _If you weren't a psychotic mass-murderer_. I finally settled on saying, "If circumstances were otherwise."

He nodded and said, "Then we will be friends, because despite your constant accusations, I am _not_ Kira!" I watched his eyes, his face, and his lips as they moved vehemently defending his innocence and I sighed deeply, looking down and when I looked back up there was another look in his eyes I couldn't decipher. "Ryuuzaki-kun, what – what you said before about my _type_; what were you getting at? Was there a point to that?"

A chill ran down my spine at the challenge in his voice and I bit my lower lip, the candy lodged against my uninjured cheek as I thought about my reply. I hadn't expected him to take this kind of initiative, but watching the smoldering anger resume its place in his eyes told me I had been dead wrong. He wasn't the same kind of angry as he had been earlier; this was a different form that showed me he wasn't going to _let me_ sidestep my way out of giving him an answer. I finally settled on that all-purpose shrug once more and said, "I was curious. That is all, Light-kun."

And now the game had changed again, imperceptibly to any but us two, as each waited for the other to budge first. To make a confession, or perhaps to strike out in anger at the other, and there was an eighty-seven percent chance Light was going to hit me – again. But the sound of my cell-phone ringing in my pocket broke the silence, shattering the tension between us and I stepped away from the boy as my hand snaked quickly to grab the phone. I pushed the button carefully, holding the phone as usual and said, "Yes?"

"L," Watari's voice sounded from the ear-piece. "You have another case request, this one's in Italy." I walked over to the desktop computer in the room and moved the mouse, the monitor flickering to life once more and he sent me the information. Well, if I couldn't catch the_ current_ Kira, I might as well make myself useful, right? I looked at the typical homicide and asked, "Who was the request sent to? And why me? Have the Italian police done any investigating of their own yet?"

"Yes, they have. This is a serial killing, and the request was sent to L." I nodded and debated turning them down. I didn't charge money as 'L,' but I could as Deneuve or Coil. But alas the police were asking for L's help, not the others, and I wouldn't mind a diversion to help pass the time. Besides, a diversion from being so close to Light all the time would be welcome as well, even if it was only a mental diversion. And, it looked like an easy case, so why not? "L, as long as your attentions aren't too divided there is no harm in taking on the case. And if we need to relocate for a few days, it can be arranged."

I nodded, realized he couldn't see it and said, "Very well. Inform them I will help them and ask them to transmit all the case files," I blinked as Watari informed me that the Italians already had sent everything over and he forwarded them to me. Opening the file with a few keystrokes I read it over and said, "Give me satellite coverage of the area." The images came up on the screen and I turned on a second monitor, adjusting the computer's settings so both could be utilized. "Thank you, Watari. I will call you later." And with that I flipped the phone shut and looked over at Light, "Come over here, you might be able to help me. A murder case that _doesn't_ involve Kira." I didn't really need the help, but having him near by way of chain all the time made it impossible for me to hide what I did. Besides, I liked working with him, and maybe now we were working on a case other than the Kira one, if he showed more interest and vigor to catch the criminal, than that might just prove that he was Kira.

We filed through police reports and Light jumped into the case. It had taken place in a private home, the wife and kids had been out for the weekend visiting relatives in Sorrento. The crime, however, had taken place in their home in Naples. Over the next few days we both worked relentlessly to figure it out. None of the doors or windows had been forced, and the police had found no prints aside from family members and close friends of the family. I looked at Light meaningfully, my own words lingering silently between us about friends and enemies, but neither of us mentioned this at all. Eventually we figured it out. In fact, Light had come to the conclusion before I could, pointing out something that should have been obvious from the beginning. The murder weapon had been a lost cause to the police, but when we received the images from the Morgue in regards to the body, we'd tried many various comparisons and had also come up blank. We were fairly certain a blade of some sort had been used to first slit the neck and then take the head off completely, but it was a sloppy job and then Light mentioned an exacto-knife. The thought of what that had required to cut off the head of a fairly large man with an exacto-knife had caused me to feel a bit disoriented, but Light actually ran to the restroom, jerking me along for the ride, as he emptied the contents of his stomach into the toilet.

Lately I had been avoiding dealing with my feelings for Light as we'd both been rather pre-occupied with this new case as well as trying to track down Kira during the day. Neither of us had mentioned the Italy case to the others, and I wasn't entirely sure why, but it didn't matter. As I watched light throwing up my hands reached out on their own as I fell to my knees behind him, pushing his hair out of his face with one hand and rubbing gentle circles on his back. I couldn't believe my traitorous limbs, and I started to pull away when he turned around, his face resting against my chest and his arms wrapping around my waist. I was effectively stuck, and while I probably could have physically over-powered him if I wanted to get out of the position, the trouble was I didn't actually want to.

As I contemplated my next move my hands continued to touch him as if I had no control over them. Stroking his hair, massaging his back, and fingertips running lightly over his shoulders and arms as he shivered. Could this shaking mess really be Kira? It was then I had more doubts than ever and the percentage in my mind actually lowered. Did Light really have the stomach for it? Then again, power corrupts. Had this been what Light had been like _before_ he had become Kira? Was this the real light? I had not seen in him any method by which to cause a heart-attack, and well, we _were_ chained together, it wasn't like he could sneak off somewhere so he could kill people. And we sat like that for at least twenty minutes, his shaking eventually subsided and when he pulled away a faint blush set in below the surface of his skin, cheeks warm to the touch as my fingers brushed against one lightly as I turned his face so I could look into his eyes. "Let's go tell the police what we know, Light-kun…" I said quietly and he nodded. I stood up, reaching out a hand to help him do the same, and he actually accepted the gesture.

He kept his hand in mind as we walked back to the computer console, like a scared child clinging to a parent to keep them safe. His face was stoic, calm and its natural state. He'd regained his composure once again and the only thing that betrayed him _was_ the fact that his hand was still in mine. I had done this before, solved countless cases that were too horrible and too difficult for the police to solve. I had to remind myself that the Kira case was the first homicide Light had worked on. True, he had helped the police solve three crimes in the past, but they had been minor. And as for the Kira case, the deaths had more or less been heart attacks. As far as blood and gore were concerned, most of the deaths in our case didn't have any. Which also meant they didn't leave evidence, either.

It felt strange to be touching things with more than just forefingers and thumbs. First his hair, and his back, and now his hand. Not bad, just different, not something I was used to. Experimentally I shifted my grip so I was only holding his hand with my forefinger and thumb and wrinkled my nose at the uncomfortable feeling. My hand would most likely cramp up if I kept that position up and then I heard something else. Today was a day for surprises, and since it was nearing four in the morning, I wasn't sure if this would be a good day or a bad one. But Light was laughing beside me. It was a laugh of surprise and mirth, the merry sound filling the room and turning the corners of my own lips up into a reluctant smile as I wondered what was so funny. I felt his hand slide fully into my own once more and he tugged on it lightly, metal cuffs clinking together as he pulled me towards him. "You and your eccentricities, Ryuuzaki."

My breath came too quickly now, the smile on his face wiping mine off completely as my heart beat too fast – too hard. Heart-attack? No, surely not, there was no _way_ he'd risk something like that and my brain and body told me to fight against this. Fight and then run as far away as possible. In a tone barely louder than a whisper, I managed words. Somehow someone somewhere was watching over me enough to allow me to speak. "This would be…where Kira would try and lull me into a false sense of security." My smirk was back in place, but he was without heart or merit. My accusations fell as they usually did, on deaf ears, and I watched as his other hand came up and swept a lock of black hair from my face.

"Is it, now?" He was still smiling that damned undeniably gorgeous smile of his, secretive and yet all too revealing of his intent at the same time, and I felt myself go weak in the knees as he stepped towards me. "But, Ryuuzaki, I'm not Kira. So any sense of security you may feel would, I assure you, be genuine." I felt my heart tear at his words and I closed my eyes, counting slowly to five before re-opening them and my heartbeat began to slow back to its normal pace. He was Kira, or had been Kira, and I was almost positive of this fact. If only he would admit to it or prove to me he wasn't, but every second he didn't prove his lack of guilt to me only drove home my resolve to prove what he was trying to disprove. "Ryu – no, L… I'm not Kira."

I looked at him seriously and finally said, "I hope not, Light-kun." Silently I added, _for both our sakes_, and turned away, pulling my hand free from the trap of his warm flesh and I pressed the button to call the Naples police headquarters. When I hung up the phone even I needed some sleep, and I nodded towards the bed.

"Wait just a moment, Ryuuzaki-kun." And I waited, staring at him blankly as he collected his thoughts. "A few days ago…when you said Misa-chan wasn't my type. You were right." He smiled and it looked a bit sad, but I didn't interrupt, and he plodded on and I didn't have long to wonder where he was going with this. "The problem isn't that Misa-chan isn't my type, Ryuuzaki-kun. The problem is that I'm not sure I have a type. It's more that I don't feel like I connect with anyone; therefore perhaps I'm doomed to this feeling of being disconnected for my whole life. At least Misa-chan is real, she's there, and when she's paying attention to me I know someone is. She cares a lot about me, and I really hope one day I can feel that way about someone. With luck, it would be Misa-chan, if only to avoid the heart-break that would follow. But I know, deep down, she's not _the one_. I don't think I'll ever find _the one_. And so you asked why I was with her," he smiled wryly and looked away, hands landing in his khaki pants. "And I can only quote a song in answer. '_Sometimes when I'm alone I wonder is there a spell that I am under keeping me from seeing the real thing_.'" And with that he headed towards the bed, and I trailed behind him when the chain commanded me to and my heart ached silently for him.

* * *

A//N;;

OK, sooo I was totally going to end this at 'for both our sake's' but… I wanted it to be a little longer. XD

&v& -- He truly is the Mark of the Beast.

I hope you're looking forward to reading the next chapter as much as I'm looking forward to writing it. ^-^


	4. Twisted Midnight::Chapter Four

**Author's Notes**;;

Well, here's another chapter. Not much to say aside from what I will say in reply to reviews, sooo…

**Niphaxila**;; Ha, yes, my original goal was to post a chapter per weekday, since weekend writing time for me is more limited. I love writing, so when I finish a chapter I post it. :D And, once again, THANK YOU because it's very true, the words do help. When I'm done with this story I'll have to read some more fics, I'm taking a break so I can write, lol. (I'll probably wind up breaking this once per day thing because I love writing so much I might wind up posting more than one chapter every once in a while. O.o)

**Gaawa-chan**;; Hahahaha I was wondering if people would notice that. Sadly that can't be explained in my fic, because the story is told from L's POV, however… it would go something like this:

_Revulsion bit at my center, the very core of my being, not only at what I had seen but the act I had committed afterwards. Regurgitation was not a pretty sight to behold, nor was it pleasant to experience firsthand, and now I was whimpering like some child and of all things _clinging_ to Ryuuga, of all people! When he offered me a hand up there was really no point in rebuking the clear gesture it was meant to be. This world was truly rotten and things like this murder left me wondering if it had ever had any good qualities about it. And so the rotten taste still left in my mouth was slightly diminished since it had been about twenty minutes, but I left it there to serve as a reminder that the world's own slippery, sloping sinking into succulence, scandal and sheer sickening villainy was not something that would go away on its own. Maybe Kira had the right idea, and maybe the homicidal psycho-path would kill this son of a bitch as well, but it was my job to catch him and I had no intention of letting anyone get away with murder; no matter how righteous their intentions._

Wow, ok so that was longer than I thought it would be, but…that would be Light-kun, well, how I see him anyway.

**MarkoftheBeast//UnePetiteLesbienne**;; We'll see. And yes, &v& is simply divine, ne?

Er, righEt, well time for

* * *

Chapter Four:

I had watched in silence as he drank from the glass of water on the night-table on his side of the king-sized bed we shared. Small sips, as if the inside of his mouth and throat hurt, and they probably did. Vomit was acidic in nature, after all, so it was natural for there to be a modicum of pain. I stripped my pants off and undid his cuff so he could take off his shirt before replacing it and he stripped off his own pants as well. He preferred to just sleep in his boxers. As for me? Well, I would sleep fully clothed, sitting up, standing, anywhere I happened to fall asleep and anything I happened to be wearing at the time. But if I had a choice in the matter, which wasn't very often, I preferred my t-shirt with my boxers – especially with someone else in the room.

I pulled out a lollipop from the drawer on my own night-table and proffered it to him. I could feel how wide my own eyes were and I said, "Light-kun…it may sound weird but the lollipop is soothing." _Not to mention it tastes great_, I added silently and his skeptic chocolate hues gave it a cursory glance before landing on me. I smiled innocently at him and turned so I was lying completely on my side, still dangling the lollipop in front of his face, still in its wrapper, between my forefinger and thumb. "It won't bite…"

He blinked and visibly relaxed and took the pop from me and looked at it as if it were a foreign substance and he no idea what to do with it. "Uh…thanks." I only nodded and flipped back onto my back, hearing the tell-tale sign of the papery-plastic being unwrapped and I smiled a bit. It was strawberry flavored and I pulled an identical one from the nightstand, unwrapping it and popping it in my own mouth and risked a glance to my right. He was still holding it, looking at the red sweet as if it were alive, and then finally put it in his mouth and his eyes widened in surprise as he took it back out. His tongue flickered into view swiftly as he licked it. "It _is_ good," he admitted. But I was no longer looking at him. In fact, I was lying on my left side so I wouldn't _have_ any risk of looking at him again. I merely grunted in a fashion that meant _of course_, and closed my eyes tightly, thinking of mundane things to get my mind off of _him_.

The next morning was the same as any. Get up, wait for Light to wake up (usually I woke him up if he wasn't up by six-thirty, but lately I'd let him sleep since we had been working until later), then hit the showers brush our teeth and get dressed while messing with the chains as per usual. And then down the stairs for breakfast and then the others were in the main office by eight.

While Light and I worked on both cases simultaneously, I contacted the police in Naples with my narrowed list of suspects. They, in turn, were going to get warrants on the three people Light and I agreed were most suspect. My choice in the matter was the daughter's boyfriend, who was the only person who seemed to know all the victims. Granted, he seemed to know the other victims to a much lesser degree than the one that had caused this investigation, but he'd known them nonetheless. Perhaps he'd just been killing those others, then for personal reasons killed his girlfriend's father and tried to play it off as a serial killing. Then again, maybe he was just playing copycat, trying to pass his murder off as that of the serial killer. If it were the latter it meant we had another killer on the loose, still. If the former, then we had to be even more careful and wary of him.

The door opened and Watari brought in a tray on wheels full of sweets. I waved my hand in a gesture that clearly said anyone could take anything they wanted, and Matsuda grabbed several donuts before I plucked out my sweet of preference at the moment. Chocolate chip cookies and strawberry ice cream, and I dug in as Aizawa poured himself some tea. I tilted my head and reached for the pot, unbeknownst to me Light was doing the same and our hands brushed together. I saw a faint blush spread across his cheeks and he pulled his hand away as if he'd been burned and I merely poured two cups out, one for each of us. I smiled a bit smugly and pushed one toward him. "Sugar, Light-kun?"

He shook his head and took a sip of the tea as it was, black, and I added cube after cube, losing count after five and eventually took a sip, adding in three more and smiled satisfactorily. Several hours and little progress later I received the news that the daughter's boyfriend had indeed been arrested, but it appeared he was merely a copycat after all. Not good, I sulked slightly and knew that I was now too interested in the case to back out. I pulled Light into the hallway, "Come…" I merely said, and he had no choice but to do as I bid considering the length of metal connecting us. When I broke to him the news, his eyes clouded over and his fist flew out, connecting with the walls and he swore, wringing his hand out, his face a portrait of pain. "Light-kun!" I said, grabbing his hand with my own and looking at it. At least he hadn't hit the wall hard enough to break any bones, and I ran my fingers gently over his. He shivered and pulled his hand away, then pressed his uninjured hand against my chest, pushing me into the wall he'd just vehemently tried and failed to break.

"We're going to get this son of a bitch, Ryuuzaki-kun. I need to. We can't let him get away with this, we can't let _either_ of them get away with it." His eyes burned with a fire I recognized as determination and I smiled, chuckling softly. "What? What's so funny?" he asked, eyes widening in surprise.

"Kira would want to divert my attention to a new case, would he not, Light-kun? Also, if Kira realized that that was what I would think then he would most definitely try and remind me that we still needed to catch _him_ as well, but maybe he thought he could get enough of a lead against me if my attentions were divided?" I was, once again, implying Light was Kira and trying to get him to admit it. Trying to get him to acknowledge it, trying to get a rise out of Light; after all, if the fire within him didn't stir, what was the point in trying to rile him up?

As predicted he let his breath out in a hiss, the swift rush of air caressing my cheek hotly and I narrowed my eyes. "Always with the relentless accusations! Don't you ever tire of calling me what I'm not? It's obvious I'm not killing people or contacting anyone who might be killing people. Nor is it possible for me to contact people who might be contacting people!" Did I tire of it? The answer was, surprisingly, yes. And no, oh yes the answer was two-fold. I loved our debates and chats, our mind-numbing ability to try and convince the other that perhaps the grass is blue and the sky is green. Black is white and gray is black, while white is, in this instance, the vast and aimless shades in between. But accusing him of being Kira was something I tired of because I wanted this investigation to draw to a close, and I had other reasons for not wanting him to be Kira. Accusing him might clear his name, though, eventually. "I'm not Kira, Ryuuzaki. Believe me."

"Ah, telling me what to do, yet another Kira-like thing for you to do, Light- kun." He took another step closer to me, which pressed his chest to mine in the confined space and I swallowed visibly past the sudden lump that had lodged itself in my throat as his lips hovered inches in front of mine.

"One request, Ryuuzaki." His breath once again tickled me, this time my lips and they parted a bit. I looked into those sharp, calculating eyes that belonged to the young boy and blinked cautiously. I nodded and he resumed his speech, breath once again finding a new place to caress as he shifted his weight from his left to his right foot and my neck was its latest victim. "Test me all you want out here, but when we go upstairs and are in our room – just let it be. I'm not Kira, and I don't mind being subject to your little games out here so I can prove it to you, but _I_ am tired of this and when I'm in the room I'm supposed to _sleep_ in, I'd like to feel like I can relax."

My brain had gone a bit fuzzy around the edges, my sight blurred and I wasn't sure I was really there. His breath hot against my neck as he spoke softly that my back arched, and my neck had leaned closer to those moving lips seemingly without my own awareness of the action. After a moment's hesitation as his words actually caught up with my spinning mind, information passing from neuron to neuron and eventually processing within seconds, although it felt as excruciatingly slow as days. But the new thought that days spent with these sensations wouldn't be excruciating came to mind and I shoved it aside. He was asking quite a bit, I supposed it meant I could limit the amount of time spent in our room more, that would solve that. I nodded and said, "Very well, Light-kun. But you'll have to do something for me, then." I grinned mischievously and he took a step away in surprise. "Bake me a cake."

I had expected anger, but he laughed and merely asked, "Sure. Baking isn't exactly _difficult_, Ryuuzaki-kun. Then again, I doubt you'd have any personal experience in the matter. Any particular preference on the type?"

I crossed my arms, pouting a bit at the obvious tone of derision in his voice and chewed thoughtfully on my lower lip. Finally I just shrugged and said, "Baked Alaska." His eyes widened in surprise, and then the cocky demeanor overtook him once more and he strode back into the main office and I followed, wondering if Light actually _could_ bake. It really wouldn't have surprised me. After all, Light was a perfectionist and was quite handy and capable at anything he tried. He was adaptable and focused, and was definitely able to take care of himself if he needed to. And the most frustratingly infuriating part of it all were that none of those traits either condemned or acquitted him of being Kira.

* * *

A//N

Riiiggghhht sooo

I love you all for reading. There are going to be a lot more chapters, just to warn you. Because that's simply how I'm planning it, since I've finally gotten _un_lazy enough to plan. ^-^

Really. I wanna know, how am I doing with the whole first-person narrative thing? L isn't exactly the easiest character to write. He's really quite demanding and spoiled o.o

:D

Well, until next time!


	5. Twisted Midnight::Chapter Five

**Author's Notes**;;

ZOMG! No WAY! Chapter five, so soon? Damn, I'm good. Now, ahem.

**Ragamuffin**;; I'm glad, but you have presented me with a bit of a challenge I suppose. The next trick is to make L's feelings become real, not just _almost_ real, ne? Thank you for your review, it made me very happy! :D And as for Baked Alaska, it's annoying to make but it's really really yummy. Totally and completely bad for a person to eat, but yeah.

**UnePetiteLesbienne**;; YES!!! That means a LOT to me. If I do step OOC much, feel free to text/IM me until I cry and correct my mistakes. ^-^

**I might wind up revising this chapter considering it was like 4:30 AM when I wrote/published it. _**

* * *

Chapter Five:

Baked Alaska was apparently a lot more time-consuming than I had initially thought. Light had looked up the recipe on the internet and asked Watari to get the ingredients. Apparently he wasn't going to make it that night; he'd actually taken one look at the recipe and told me flat-out he wasn't going to attempt it until he'd gotten more sleep. Despite my best abilities to poke and prod, I could tell his eyes were drooping and we still had more work to do on the Italy case.

And eerie silence fell between us as we each settled into position at the computers in our room and neither of us broke it. I fought against the droop of my eyelids, there was no _way_ I was going to fall asleep before Light, and I shifted my weight, knees still safely tucked under my chin and toes curling over the side of the leather seat. _And I looked over at Light, wondering what he was thinking. What thoughts lurked behind those caramel eyes? Were they devious? And then he looked at me, our eyes locking as we both just stared at each other. He moved towards me slowly, a bit hesitantly, and I frowned as I slipped my feet off the edge of my chair. And then he was suddenly right in front of me, kneeling, with his hands on my knees and he trailed his right hand up my left thigh, hip and then chest. His hand slowly made its way back down and caressed my inner thigh and I felt myself react, already half-hard despite that he was now only touching me with just the tips of his fingers. _"L-Light…"_ I blinked, something not feeling quite right about all of this, and felt the press of a hand against my groin._

"_Ryuuzaki-kun?" The voice didn't match the eyes staring at me but that didn't matter. _I pressed myself further into the fetal position on my chair, too tight fabric rubbing against my mostly hard member and this time the sound of a moan escaping my lips, aloud and for any to hear, jolted me out of the slumber I'd crept into. I was lying down curled much like a cat on the seat of the chair I'd been sitting in, and Light was sitting next to me, a look of concern etched on his fair features. "Ryuuzaki are you alright?" I sat back up in the chair, hugging my knees against my chest and fought the blush that I felt beginning at the back of my neck and the tips of my ears. He asked once more if I was okay, and I nodded, unable to meet his gaze. "You – you must have been dreaming, you were moving around, were you having a nightmare?" I stayed perfectly still, closing my eyes and counting backwards from ten slowly. I needed to calm down and needed to do so as soon as possible. "You called for me."

My eyes widened and locked on his like they had in my dream, but it didn't feel the same. I felt slightly panicked, I had spoken his name. Out loud. Shit and double shit. I pulled my knees even closer to my body, if possible, and said, "Well perhaps in my nightmare you turned out to be Kira. That would, after all, be fearsome enough for a nightmare. But alas, I don't remember what I was dreaming about, so it doesn't really matter now." This had apparently not been the response he'd been hoping for, my voice as cool and calculating as ever, remaining detached was probably one of the safest things I could ever do.

I swiveled my chair around with expertise and stepped off, heading for the bed and hearing him stumbling behind me a bit but his next words froze me. "Well I could have sworn the sound hadn't been too unpleasant." I refrained from turning around and took a few more steps towards the bed, sitting on the edge carefully and pulling up my feet once more so as to curl up in my usual position. "In fact, you sounded like you were enjoying yourself, Ryuuzaki-kun."

In all honestly I could have just come clean to Light, told him what I had really dreamt about. I wanted him to know, I did want _him_, but I wanted him to earn it. I wanted him to make a move, because I didn't really know how. I didn't know what I was doing as I'd never been in this predicament before, and even I knew I was a bit spoiled. But he'd done this to me whether he knew it or not, and he was going to have to pay for it in some way. I wanted him to dominate me, but I wanted him to fight for it.

It was then I turned my head to look at him, giving him my best 'blank cop face' as if this didn't bother me in the slightest. "I honestly have no idea what you're talking about, Light-kun. Perhaps it would be best if we both went to sleep now as you clearly heard something that didn't occur and I fell asleep earlier." I tugged on the chain and bounced towards the bathroom, pulling him along behind me like a puppy that was wary of its owner and disgruntled. It had seen what it thought was a tennis ball only to find out it was nothing of the sort, or it was pretending to be nothing of the sort. Brush teeth, strip down, and then under the covers once more. And the next time I fell asleep it was the depth where dreams ceased to exist, and I sunk into it blissfully.

When I woke up I was considerably closer to Light than when I'd fallen asleep. We'd both shifted to the point where we were both in the center of the bed, facing each other and legs tangled together. I was sucking my thumb when my charcoal eyes blinked back to awareness and I saw he was actually awake before me. I pulled away, swallowing past the feeling like I had slept with a ball of cotton in my mouth and shifted onto my back, pulling my legs from the mess they had become with Light's and felt him doing the same. "Eh, Light-kun?" I asked, voice passive in the realization that it was light outside.

"Ryuuzaki-kun," he said, and I turned my head to meet his eyes. "What is it?" Spellbound as always by his eyes, I shook my head slowly and rubbed my eyes as I ran fingers through my hair and tried to make myself more alert.

"Nothing. Let's get up and shower, it's going to be a long day." And indeed it had been. We'd managed to track down that serial killer in Italy, despite losing another victim to him. But this time he'd practically led a trail of breadcrumbs right to him. And in fact it turned out this particular homicidal maniac had been choosing victims via the bar he frequented. It was one of those 'humans who thought they were vampires' types of bars and people wearing masks weren't particularly uncommon. He had killed all his victims in ways that a vampire would be slain, now that I thought about it. But that case solved left me once again with little to do save for the Kira case, and that had hit many walls.

And not to mention that it was Sunday, which meant the Investigation Team had the day off. Which was why Light and I could be found in the kitchen, he with many pans and bowls and ingredients set out before him, and me watching with avid curiosity of when I could taste what. He had gotten strawberry-flavored ice-cream for me and filled nine and a half inch wide bowl to three quarters full, the bowl held 2 and a half quarts in total and I wanted to dig in. But I had to be patient, even if I didn't like it, as he covered it with plastic-wrap and stuck it in the freezer. But he did take out a small bowl and put a few scoops in it for me to eat while I waited.

"Now, Light-kun," I said, and got an annoyed look from him in reply. I ignored it, as usual, and continued with what I had been saying. "Kira would probably not make me a cake, nor would I think he knew how, unless he forced himself to do so by trying to gain my trust. Then again, perhaps he intended to poison the cake. No, it would raise the suspicion of the other Team Members if he were alone with me when it occurred."

Light only growled and said, "Ryuuzaki-kun, if you seriously want me to make you this than stop. I'm not Kira, please stop saying that!" My eyebrows lifted in amusement as his face flushed with anger and I smiled. "Besides," he added, "I need to concentrate. Question me after the Brownie base is finished, alright?"

I watched and followed as he turned on the oven, forced to stay within six feet of him at all times because of the chain, and he set it to three-hundred and seventy-five degrees and began mixing something that had chocolate in it. The truth was I'd never actually had Baked Alaska, I'd only heard it was amazing and that it was hard to make, and so now I wanted it, of course. I felt slightly bad for making Light bake me _this_ cake merely because I expected it to be difficult, but I would soon have the benefits in my mouth and stomach. He melted chocolate and mixed in quite a bit of sugar and whisked them both with eggs and salt before pouring it into a greased pan lined with greased aluminum foil. He stuck the whole thing into the oven when it beeped that it was ready, and then checked on the ice cream in the freezer, ascertaining that it indeed needed more time and I noticed he had a bit of chocolate on his cheek.

I walked over to him and put my bowl down on the counter, lifting my right index finger to his cheek and swiping off the chocolate neatly and putting it in my mouth. He blinked, clearly surprised, and I pressed my advantage, taking a step closer to him until he was against another counter. The clock struck midnight, a time of in-betweens that I felt connected to in a lot of ways. I stood there a moment before turning away once more, reaching for the bowl of ice cream. But he grabbed me and the bowl went flying, and the strangest thing was the ice cream was the last thing on my mind as his lips met mine. His hand tangled in my hair while the other pressed against my back, crushing my body against his and I just stood there for a moment feeling very, very much like an idiot. This had been what I'd wanted, so why was I feeling so – so stupid? I felt butterflies in my stomach, fluttering around incessantly in that _Oh. My. God. He's _kissing_ me_, type of way and slowly my lips began to move, kissing him back.

My heart beat erratically in my chest as my arms wound themselves around his neck, my own fingers caressing brown, soft locks of hair and suddenly I was ravenous, but not for any edible type of food. When I had initially been unresponsive, now my lips sought his as if they were my air. My tongue battled with his as if it were my food, and my hands roved his body as if he were the source that would cure my dehydration while my soul sought comfort from his as if that were all the shelter I would ever need from the world. And while I knew this wasn't true, it couldn't be, in those moments I wanted to believe the beautiful lie spun in that moment of twisted midnight. That time that was neither one day nor the next, neither morning nor night, stuck in that perilous time when the veil between words was thinnest and the crazy was brought out the most in people.

I could feel each of us bruising the other's lips, teeth and tongues long past battling and now just exploring; learning the curves of the other as we desperately clung to this moment where sanity and common sense had apparently flown out the window. I'd never given much thought to how my first kiss would end up, but I certainly had never imagined standing in a kitchen with a possible mass-murderer chained to my wrist and our bodies pressed so hard together I wasn't sure where one of us began and the other ended. It was ferocious in its passion, divine in its need and stunning in its purity. This kiss was what all kisses should have been, in my opinion, and when we finally tore away from each other gasping for the actual air our lungs needed despite what we hay have told ourselves, it was with flushed faces and sweaty palms. And I wouldn't have traded any of it in, not even for all the sweets in the world. A ding sounded somewhat distantly and Light groaned, pulling away from me completely and I latched onto his hand with my own, eyes asking silently where he was going. He merely smiled and said, "I'm baking you Alaska, remember?"

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A//N

So I had really intended this chapter to be longer, but I loved the ending too much to add to it.

P.S. I love reviews.

Also, finally the name of the story comes into play. What did you think? :D


	6. Twisted Midnight::Chapter Six

**Author's Notes**;;

I couldn't stay away…I love to write too much.

**Jenna**;; Then I shall have to continue to feed your addiction. This is my first fanfic. O.O

**Wouldn'tYouLikeToKnow**;; I don't need your name, ^-^ but thank you SO MUCH for your review!!! I am rather proud of the kiss, actually. Especially since it was like 4:30 in the morning and I was like OMG I'm done! –crashes- :D And I suppose I hear that I'm a good writer relatively often, but trust me it doesn't get old. ;) And, Baked Alaska is yummy. I really insist that those who haven't tried it do so at least once in their lives, as long as they aren't allergic to anything in it. –nods-

**Salaa**;; You are the second person to tell me that, despite not liking the pairing, you like my story. But the first person was a friend, so that doesn't really count haha. You have no idea how much your review meant to me that you feel it's believable. I've read a good chunk of LxLight fanfiction, but when I started writing I pretty much stopped reading so I could _think_ my version of L. How I saw the character. Sadly, with first person, there's a lot the reader doesn't get and almost tempts me to rewrite this story when it's over from Light's POV.

**UnePetitteLesbienne**;; Obviously you are an exception to the whole 'go eat Baked Alaska' rule. Lmfao. You're silly, but I love you.

**Niphaxila**;; Thanks! ZOMG! The SCENE that sparked this all will be coming up soon. Not this chapter. Maybe next chapter, or the one after, I haven't quite decided. But… I'm EXCITED. o.o –hides-

Wow, alright I've rambled quite a bit so far.

* * *

Chapter Six:

I had to let go of his hand as he took the brownie base out of the oven and set it to cool. I wrapped my arms around myself, feet fidgeting below me as I looked anywhere but at him as he set a timer and then I felt a tug on the chain and glanced up. My first instinct was to take a step away from him and I did. He hesitated and looked down and for some reason I felt like I'd done something wrong. Guilt wasn't an emotion I was familiar with, and I usually categorized it as useless, and yet I wasn't used to feeling like I needed to apologize for something. Hell, I was still trying to work out how I'd offended him when he was moving around again and stirring things in a new bowl.

I watched his motions and, for the first time, just appreciated the view and didn't think of how he could be Kira. I watched _Light_ making me a cake and, although I knew it wouldn't be ready until tomorrow, it actually meant something to me that he was making it. I usually took for granted that people did things for me when I asked, but Light wasn't one of those people. He wrapped the brownie base up tightly after it was done cooling off and the timer had gone off once again and put that in the freezer as well then turned to me, a hesitant smile on his face and I flinched. "Light-kun…" I said, not meeting his gaze as I chewed on my nails, my cuticles, the pads of my thumbs – anything my teeth could reach associated with my fingers out of pure nerves. "Um…a-about before." I shivered, since when couldn't I form complete sentences? Since Light had kissed me, apparently. My fingers traced my lips and they tingled slightly as memory took me over and my tongue darted out, sweeping over them quickly.

When I looked up he was standing a bit closer to me than before and it was almost like he were watching me, as if I were some wild animal whose actions he couldn't predict; or like he was afraid of what I would do or say. And I wasn't sure if I could blame him, after all I had kissed him back but now the knowledge that he was probably Kira settled itself like a stone in my stomach and I blinked a few times, refusing to cry. His voice broke through the silence that had fallen as thick and as dangerous as a cliff laced with freshly fallen snow, "What is it, Ryuuzaki-kun?" There was the slightest tremble to his voice which almost made me rethink what I had to ask, but I didn't give in to it.

I looked up and finally met those brown eyes and asked, "Uh…why did you, I mean, what prompted you to-" I stopped and took a deep breath. This. Was. Awkward. And I looked away again, charcoal orbs darting towards the cupboards, the fridge, the ice-cream on the floor, the shattered bowl fragments scattered with it, my bare feet dangerously close to a large piece of broken pottery. "I mean, well, just now why did you k-"

"Kiss you? Is that what you want to know, Ryuuzaki? Why did I _kiss_ you?" I shrunk back from his tone, able to tell without looking his eyes would hold that much more red in them for being angry. He'd been happy before, smiling even, and now I had to deal with him in a foul mood. No, I had every right to demand an answer from him. After all, he was still the prime subject in my investigation. He stepped closer to me and I felt a hand beneath my chin forcing my eyes up and I shut them. "Look at me. You, with your attitude lately, asking me why I'd kissed you. I" I felt the hand slip away and he took a step back from me as I opened my eyes, finally letting them rest on his face. He looked slightly lost and he added, "I thought you wanted me to. I thought that maybe…you know what, never-mind! Just forget it happened." He pushed the things remaining on the counter into the sink and turned to wash them and muttered, "Spoiled brat…" and I bit my lower lip, playing with the chain, rolling it between my thumb and forefinger gently so he wouldn't notice.

"It's just…" I started and he tensed, freezing momentarily before resuming his task and obviously giving me the cold shoulder. "You're my suspect; I'm trying to put you in jail. It's not that I didn't…want you to kiss me." Again, no reaction, just laboriously cleaning the dishes he'd used and wetting a rag so he could wipe down the countertops. "I – I _did_ want you to, and my, er, apologies if I acted in a way to lead you on but I know it's wrong for us to do things like that." He robotically moved to the counters, wiping them down as I spoke and actively ignoring me. Had he tuned me out completely? Was he utilizing the ability humans called selective hearing? Light had never struck me as the type of person to do that, but…he'd never struck me as the type of person that would kiss me, either. Then again, I had never really considered the idea of _anyone_ wanting to kiss me. I was socially inept and even I could admit it, and while admitting one's faults were the first step to getting over them; that was obviously not the case with me. "Listen, Light-kun, please." He stopped moving, maybe it had been the 'please,' I didn't know but I kept talking as if my life depended on it. My words were fast but I knew he could keep up.

"It's wrong. On several different levels. One, it's a conflict of interests for me. I'm L, top detective in the world, and I'm trying to get you convicted on charges of being Kira. You need to realize that, even if you wind up being Kira, and we wind up, ah, more than we are now I will have to follow my duty and still hand you over to Justice." He'd gone back to cleaning, but I knew now he was listening to me and that he was hearing me. "Not to mention your father won't be pleased if he finds out, nor would the Investigation Team. I've been able to work around my attraction to you for a while now, so I think that-" But I never finished my sentence as his hand connected, open palm, with my face. I winced and brought my own hand up to the burning spot on my cheek and took a step away from him, but he followed, eyes narrowed dangerously and I was suddenly backed against a wall.

"How long?" he asked with an arm on either side of my face and I tried to shrink back from him but was stopped by the wall at my back. "How long have you been _attracted_ to me, Ryuuzaki?" The low timbre of his voice made me shiver and I squirmed uncomfortably and mumbled something incoherently. "Louder. So I can hear you, L."

"Since…since before I met you…" I muttered a bit louder and his breath came out in a heated rush of surprise and he stumbled away from me, running a hand through his hair, which was something he usually only did when feeling stressed. I averted my gaze once more and sunk to the floor, sitting in my usual position as I waited for him to either say something or calm down and I risked looking up at him. I knew his question before he opened his mouth, "Because it was a bad idea. Light-kun, being with each other is bad for both of us. If I'd told you earlier and we had, what, gotten together? Well, we'd still be in this pickle. No, it's better if we just forget all of this and go back to how things were." I felt a stab of pain in my chest and shoved it down; it was like broken glass slicing through my heart. I didn't _want_ things to go back to how they had been. "Light-kun…we just can't-"

"Won't." His voice was harsh, still, but he wasn't looking at me. He had his back to me now and I couldn't really blame him. His voice was eerily monotonous as he began to speak once more, his tone shushing any words I would have said. "You mean you _won't_, Ryuuzaki. You're so decided that I'm Kira you won't even see how ludicrous it might be that you're wrong." He spun around, glaring daggers at me and if looks could do what they promised, there would be shards of L to mix with the broken bowl and the melting ice-cream. Then again, it already felt like my heart were in that many pieces, anyway. "You pushed me, tested me, was it just to turn me away? Was this also just some test, Ryuuzaki? Was it a test to see if I fell for you or not; a test, yet again, to see if I were Kira? OH, let me guess…" he said, voice now bitter and I winced. "Because I made a move on you my percentages of being Kira have risen, right? Because I tried to _seduce_ you, I'm Kira? Because having L under Kira's control would be absolutely exhilarating, right? And now that I'm standing here and asking about chances and _won't_, you're raising it higher still. Please, Ryuuzaki, prove me wrong. I dare you."

I said nothing, having nothing to say to the accusations. None of it had crossed my mind, but his words stung just as well if they had. I stood back up and it was my turn to give him my back. "That was harsh, Light-kun." And I began walking, chain becoming taught behind me but it slackened once again as he started following me. The rest of the night was silent, and some said silence was golden. This silence, however, was a bone-chillingly cold icicle slipped down my throat, choking me so I couldn't speak. And it slipped further still into my heart, leaving me shivering while he snored, fighting back a chill no blanket could warm. No, this chill was inside, and I couldn't fight it off. Tears slid silently down my cheeks and eventually I passed out, eyes never leaving the sight of the boy next to me as I contemplated my own idiocy. Genius that I was, I'd still managed to hurt him.

When I opened my eyes three and a half hours later he was still sleeping, and my tears had dried. I steeled my resolve for what would befall when he woke up, but he ignored me as we completed the usual routine that had settled into something much more at ease than when this entrapment had begun. And I felt colder still inside for the cold shoulder he was showing me. I had gone too far, crossed some line I shouldn't have crossed, and wished I'd never brought myself into that conversation he and I had had about Misa.

The other Team Members seemed to notice our lack of communication, but they figured we were just having another of our usual fights. Oh, if they'd known the reason the uproar it would have caused, and I wanted to tell them just to get a rise out of them. I was back to feeling petty and morose, and yes, guilty, over the way things had gone the night before. Guilt, I decided, was not a feeling I liked. Eventually the others left and he got up, jerking me with him towards the kitchen where he got out the Baked Alaska components he'd made the night before. I watched as he put the brownies on top of the ice cream in the platter he'd put it on, then he added the meringue. He set the whole thing in the center of the oven, which he'd pre-heated to four-hundred and fifty degrees. He took it out exactly six minutes and seven seconds later and the top was a light golden-brown. He cut out a good sized piece and put it on a plate, pushing me into a seat and I curled up in it, staring at the slice in front of me and once again resisting the urge to cry. I just wanted him to talk to me again. So many wondrous events happened on this earth every day. Volcanoes erupted, glaciers moved, plates shifted in the Earth. So why wouldn't he just _look_ at me? I realized I'd made a mistake, but it was a mistake made for the Greater Good. Right. Maybe if I kept telling myself that, someday I might believe it? Maybe if I kept telling myself that then someday it wouldn't hurt so much? I'd never been willing to call myself an idiot before, but in this, I really had been. But my own fault of pride got in my way of saying the things that needed to be said, so instead I sat in silence, muttered a 'thank you' (which he ignored), and began to eat. And as incredible as the cake tasted, it would have tasted loads better if he were talking to me.

Almost a whole week passed in this fashion, and by that point the other members were on the verge of forming an 'intervention,' and he spoke to me after that point only when the others were around, and only when he had to. Apparently his pride had been injured more than I'd thought it had been, and my guilt had only deepened to the point where I felt it ache in me every time I looked at him. My favorite time was night, when his gentle snores would permeate through the room and I could look at him, just look at him, and think how he could have been _mine_.

It was on one of these nights when I moved closer to him, like I usually did, and ran my fingers through his hair. But, unlike the other times, he woke up. Caught rather like a deer in headlights as he blinked quickly, adjusting to being coherent once again, I backed away. "Wh-what were you doing?" I shrugged as his wary eyes looked me over cautiously. "Ryuuzaki-kun…"

"I wasn't doing anything, Light-kun. You looked like you were having a nightmare; I thought I would wake you." He nodded, taking in my answer and giving me a calculating look that I shrunk inwardly from. On the flesh of my features, my dark eyes betrayed nothing. Well, he was speaking to me; that was something at least. I glanced at the clock and noticed it was almost five in the morning anyway. "Well we might as well get up-"

"I knew it! You were bored again, is that it? Just figured you'd wake me up so you could get to work. You selfish, spoiled-" but he never finished his sentence as I lunged at him, foot sweeping out in a kick that connected with his chest and he winced. And then we were fighting again, although fighting on a bed wasn't exactly an easy feat to accomplish. Naturally, that was probably the reason the headboard and one of the poles had wound up cracked and we'd found ourselves on the floor. The jolting fall from the bed hadn't even made us pause in our physical conquering of the other, and neither did the phone ringing on his bedside table. But when my phone rang (and both of us were exhausted from fighting) I finally pushed away and lunged for it. It was Watari who, for some unfathomable reason, decided to inform me of Matsuda's impending birthday at the end of August. Watari was also checking up on me more frequently ever since my lip-lock with the younger police-wannabe. He'd seen the whole thing on the monitors, and only he knew me well enough to see how shaken it had left me. And so I knew the birthday scheme was more a cover-up to see how I was feeling. Cover-ups aside, the gesture was appreciated, as were his constant 'reminders' that I had done the right thing. At least things improved after that, in a sense. We were almost back to how we had been, and anyone who didn't know us well would have sworn that was the case. Nothing could ever truly go back to the way things were, but we were as close as we would get. The change in the way the Team operated in response to our being 'back on our game' made me feel even lousier, and I knew it affected Light, as well, and made him feel guilty for any decrease in morale it might have led to. But it wasn't like any news on Kira had come up lately, anyway. And the bickering had resumed, each of us protesting against the other, just for the sake of arguing and debating. Because that felt normal, it felt right – it felt like _home_.

There were many times where one of would get caught staring at the other, and then the perpetrator would look away quickly as if we hadn't been. And there were also times when a small touch or glance would be exchanged as we rebuilt up a tentative trust I hadn't even been aware of being there the first time around. The reconstruction of our friendship was slow, at best, but when he smiled I couldn't help but smile back, all the while both trying to one-up the other and impress as well. It wasn't until the eve of Matsuda's birthday, a Monday night; that the subject of _the kiss_ was brought up again. It was after the rest of the Team had all left and he and I were alone, lying in bed. I was reading a Scientific magazine while he was perusing through a novel of some sort. And then he looked at me and said, "I will have you, Ryuuzaki. Or, well, I'm going to try and win you over. Your words may say one thing, but I know your body wants otherwise." I wanted to scream, shout, anything to make him shut up. As much as I wanted that, I also wanted him to win me over, to woo me. "I'm not going to give up on you." Still, I didn't meet his eyes, I couldn't. I didn't have enough strength without fear of trembling to even turn my neck or move my eyeballs to look at him. I shivered as he turned over and said his final words before eventually falling asleep: "You will be mine."

* * *

A//N

Please let me know what you think! :D


	7. Twisted Midnight::Chapter Seven

**Author's Notes**;;

When I get bored I write. I also have insomnia (hehe, no wonder I'm writing from L's POV?) Hmmm…. Well then, in my usual fashion:

**Ragamuffin**(x2);; Hehe he did indeed suspect it was no nightmare. ;)  
Hmmm, yeah. I really though about it, the whole first kiss thing. But he's an introvert and the _only_ reason Light's been spending so much time with him has been because he's suspected of being Kira. Otherwise, I have a feeling L would never have given much thought to kissing…ever. And as for how Light's feeling. Well, this is yet another one of those times when I'm like –wants to re-write this when done from Light's POV- and I'm like…no, that'd be boring and no one would read it. lmao. But the better question is if Light is really confident, or if it's merely a façade to hide the fear? They're putting each other through Hell whether they intend to or not. -.- :) Then again, Light's always been rather, er, arrogant.

**Pink Feline**;; Really? Well, like I've said, this is my first fic. I wasn't really expecting reviews at all, so I'm just happy I'm getting any! Also a benefit to not a lot of reviews is I get to reply like this. :D And yeah, I've noticed a lot when I open a fic and go…wow, that was fast? And thanks, I'm glad I'm keeping their personalities mostly in tact, and I'm also trying to make the characters my own at the same time. I'm just trying to keep it somewhat _believable_, I suppose. ^-^

**Pseudo Hayou**;; Thanks for the review! And don't apologize for it being 'late,' because I never knew you were planning on it. ^-^ I have a lot of readers (because tells me so with their nifty charts hehehe) and the majority don't leave reviews. –shrugs- Alas, in regards to Light's arrogance, I repeat what I said to Ragamuffin. 0.0 Anyway! Hmmm, yes, L is just…difficult to write, and so I've probably had to bend him somewhat. It helps that he's introverted, and (for my story) he's never been in a relationship before and so I'm taking creative liberties. Heh. He also tends to over-analyze everything and is generally feeling awkward. I've role-played long enough to know that it's particularly difficult to be completely canon, at least for me, especially when I've never written the character before, unless they aren't particularly deep characters. Unfortunately for me, L is deeper than a bottomless pit. -snorts- And he's as much of a pain in the bum as he is deep. :D

**If they have to get dressed or change, just assume they did the whole 'unlock chain momentarily thing' because it gets repetitive and boring to keep writing lol)

Mmmm, well, we'll see how the next chapter unfolds…

* * *

Chapter Seven:

I didn't sleep at all that night. He'd fallen asleep just fine after telling me I'd be _his_. What was I, some sort of property to be _had_? Anger had been able to build up while he'd slept as I recalled how arrogant and selfish _he_ could be! So what if he was gorgeous? So what if he could have anyone he wanted? We seemed to be hurting each other just fine, therefore a relationship was certainly out of the question. Although the burning feeling of his lips on mine had been pleasant, I couldn't deny otherwise, I also couldn't afford a repeat. When he finally woke up around five-thirty, I seemed hyper-aware of his presence and actions. Maybe it had been his 'promise' from the night before, or maybe it was just me with an adrenaline kick from staying up all night, either way I wasn't certain.

We headed side by side to the bathroom and he opened the door as usual, and then held it aloft for me to go in first. Usually I let him go first, for several reasons. One was that I liked watching him, and another was that I didn't want to give him my back. Silly thought, the latter, considering he'd seen me sleeping and we didn't face each other in the shower, but walking through a doorway felt more vulnerable in some weird, perverse way.

The old saying 'be careful what you wish for' mockingly flittered through my mind. Hadn't I wanted him to try? Hadn't I wanted him to try and claim me? And hadn't a part of me wanted him to win? Well, it looked like I'd gotten some of what I'd wanted; only now I wasn't so sure it was what I wanted anymore. But I went through the door as if this were normal and nothing else that was out of the ordinary occurred. After we were dressed, me in my usual and he in a pair of black slacks and a white, button-down shirt, we were walking down to join the rest of the Investigation Team. No new leads, nothing to go on, so when it was four in the afternoon no one protested that we end the day early and go out to eat for Matsuda's birthday. I felt a tremor of trepidation run through me, I didn't like going outside. I didn't like putting on shoes, or even socks, for that matter. I liked my feet to be able to breathe. But it _was_ the moron's birthday, and I could tell Light wanted to get out of Headquarters, if even for a little while.

It wasn't until we were in the hallway, away from the others, as I got my shoes and was slipping them on that I felt a hand on my shoulder. I froze and turned, facing Light, not having forgotten his words from the night before. Seconds ticked by us by as I met his challenging gaze, and then he merely slid his hand down my arm and slid his hand into mine. He brought our joined hands up and kissed each of my knuckles, and I felt my resolve wavering as his tongue darted out, licking along the length of one of my fingers. He had a talented tongue, and I wondered just _how_ talented…_no_! I had to stay focused, had to stay on my guard. I had to be wary around Light, because despite his protestations of innocence, he had been Kira. And, I wondered, if given the power to be Kira again, would he? The answer I came up with made me pull my hand out of his, because I honestly thought he would. "I'm sorry." And with that I headed back down the hallway to join the others in the main office and he followed, approximately six feet behind me as always.

I was almost at the door, out hand outstretched to open it, but I came up short as I was jolted to a stop by my right wrist. I turned, tilting my head to the side, "What is it, Light-kun?" My voice was passive, neutral, and he pulled on the chain. I didn't fight it, it would have only resulted in us on the floor once more fighting, and I allowed my feet to walk me towards him as he pulled on the chain like I was a fish he was reeling in. I wondered if he considered me a good catch, I didn't.

He pulled me closer still and his hand came up, entangling itself in my hair and I flinched. I wasn't all that good-looking in the grand scheme of things. I was too-thin, too-pale and too-eccentric. My hair was a ragged mess I didn't bother to brush and my eyes had permanent dark circles under them from the burst capillaries beneath the skin that belied my insomnia. My hair was as black as my skin was fair, the contrast making me look even more ghost-like; especially once you took into consideration my extremely dark eyes. My chin was too strong for my face, jutting out a bit, and my eyes were just a tad too wide and far apart. Then again, I was my own worst critic, but compared to me Light was practically an Angel, and I an Imp. "Ryuuzaki…" he said, and leaned forward as if to kiss me and I turned my neck, his soft lips landing instead on my cheek. I smirked, I certainly wasn't going to make this _easy_ for him, and his arrogance that I could not withstand his seduction rankled me. And then I gasped and my eyes closed on their own as his lips met with my neck.

"L-Light…" I stammered, "D-don't…" My hands went between us, pushing at his chest as that same tongue showed me it _was_ talented, swiping deftly over where my pulse beat against the flesh that betrayed me. My hands splayed and I leaned against him, now more for support than to push him away as my knees felt weak. _No…I won't succumb to his-_ but his teeth scraped lightly over the spot and I bit my lip to keep from making any noise, and my thought process shattered. I didn't know such a simple place as my neck could make my whole body feel as though it were on fire, and yet as he sucked gently on it and then trailed his ministrations up, towards my ear, that was how I felt. Every nerve-ending seemed to be filled with energy, and when he sucked on my earlobe I did two things, or, my body did. It seemed to be doing a lot of things I hadn't told it to, lately. I pulled him closer and a small whimper escaped my throat. And then it _stopped_, and I was left looking into his eyes as he stepped away from me, my cheeks burning and I knew they must be red as the strawberries I liked to eat.

He took another step away and said, "As you wish, Ryuuzaki." And then he opened the door, I stuffed my hands in my pocket for both comfort and to hide just how much I'd enjoyed what he'd been doing, and I followed him back to the others. As we walked towards the restaurant that was only two blocks away, the Obon lanterns flickered hauntingly at us from posts outside of houses and from windows. The humidity stuck to me, making my hair frizz a bit, but I paid no attention to that as I walked silently, slightly behind Light and to his left. The others walked ahead of us, Mogi and Matsuda walking side by side and Mr. Yagami walking behind them with Aizawa. We must have looked an intriguing site, the six of us. They all wore suits and Light was still wearing his nice clothing, and then there was me, sticking out like a sore thumb.

Going out in public with another man chained to one's wrist should have been awkward, and I was fairly certain Light felt awkward about it. But it was either we went chained or not at all, and even I needed a break from the dreary unproductive interior of Headquarters. People shot us odd, furtive looks, obviously curious and trying to hide it at the same time but I ignored all of them. I was used to it, after all. Light shifted nervously as we walked, he'd always been far too concerned with his image, and I didn't think it was healthy. Then again, he didn't consider my lack of care healthy, either, so we were forced to agree to disagree.

Dinner was actually fun, considering I'd ordered chocolate cake for dinner and then an Oreo cheesecake for dessert. The others had long since given up on trying to get me to eat regular foods, and I was glad to be left alone about it. Everyone except me had sake, but I noticed Light only had one while the others continued to get drunk. I didn't see the point, personally, but we had walked so the danger was minimal. The only person aside from myself and Light not becoming inebriated was Mr. Yagami. During the middle of dinner Light put his left hand on my right thigh, massaging gently and I shifted, coughing and lowering my right hand and put it over his left. Despite my better judgment, holding his hand felt nice. That was when I realized I was going to lose this game and pulled my hand back. If I wasn't careful, if I didn't let my emotions and what my body _wanted_ take control, I could abstain.

We walked home in much the same fashion as we'd come, only our party was louder, more raucous as the buzzed policemen laughed and joked with each other. There was going to be a party in Matsuda's room, in Headquarters, and neither Light nor I wanted to go. But I knew I had to, and so did he, if only to make an appearance. We had agreed before leaving that if there were to be a party, we could go for an hour or two and then be able to leave politely. We were almost there, it was just around the corner and half a block's more walk and then we would be back inside what was now my home. Light stopped, his shoelaces untied, and squatted on the ground as he fumbled with the ties, tightening the laces over his foot before beginning the looping process of tying a bow. And that's when it happened, and a voice other than one whom I was walking with shattered the night air.

"Hey, L!" I heard, and my neck snapped my head to my right. Across the street, standing on a hotel balcony, a man I didn't recognize but looked vaguely familiar was standing and waving to get my attention, his other hand swinging around and then a Browning Hi-Power that was almost to big for his small, pudgy hands was pointing at me and a shot rang out. Several things happened at once as that bullet flew toward me. The natural human reaction when a gunshot was fired was to flinch, cover their heads and ears protectively and get on the floor. But when that bullet was flying at me, I froze. It's trajectory would cause it to hit me in the torso and it would probably pierce a lung, and I knew I wouldn't survive. My next thought was _Kira_, but I didn't know how Kira might have been able to make this happen. And then two more shots rang out as both Matsuda and Mr. Yagami each put a bullet into the man who fell off the balcony. And the last thing that had happened simultaneously to all of this was something else I hadn't expected from Light. He stood up, the bullet taking him in the shoulder and spinning him so he was now facing me and he fell forward, towards me, and I thought _that bullet was meant for me_.

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A//N

Well, that was the scene that had sparked this whole fic. Well, most of it anyway. That was truly the instigating idea. Yes, A/U, but…deal with it. Besides, the story needed a bit more drama, ne?

Well? I think I like it.

Sorry about the double posting...I had to fix some errors in this chapter I didn't notice when editing


	8. Twisted Midnight::Chapter Eight

**Author's Notes**;;

**Ragamuffin**;; I love your reviews! I love to know what readers are thinking! And heh, all will revealed as to how he knew who L was… And yeah, sitting at a table with a bunch of people and saying "stop touching my leg" would have been awkward, to say the least. LMFAO.

**Salaa**;; I'm glad you enjoyed it. I liked writing that chapter. For some reason I just randomly got the imagery in my head of Light taking a bullet for L against a guy, who, well, you'll have to wait and see who that was, and then I HAD to write it. That was the scene that caused me to write this fic in the first place, I'm really glad you like it. ^-^ I'm sure your writing isn't 'crap.'

OK, I'll just get on with it so you can find out what happens. :)

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Chapter Eight:

My world had narrowed dangerously so that all I could see was Light. My hands and arms reached out to catch him as he stumbled towards me, and I lowered him to the ground, resting his head in my lap and pressing both my hands against the wound in his right shoulder. I needed to stop the blood, I needed to apply pressure. I knew all of this, but my vision felt hazy as suddenly all I could see was the blood leaking through my pale hands. Leaking out of Light. Leaking? Who was I kidding! It was more like a flash flood, and I blinked away tears and kept pressing against the wound. I couldn't hear anything, nothing registered in my usually cool and concise mind. I was in a state of disarray as I realized, again, the obvious. _That bullet. Was meant. For me._ And Light had taken a bullet for me.

Who was it pulling on my shoulder, mouth forming words I couldn't hear as I realized I was going into shock. My eyes found Light's and his left hand rose a bit off the ground and hovered, and I whispered, "Don't…leave me." His eyes closed and he fainted, probably from shock, and I wanted him to be alright. Silly thing to want, really, detective longing for the psychotic mass-murderer to stay alive, but he'd saved my life. And yet the smallest part of my mind told me Kira might have saved my life to clear his name.

Oh Gods, how did I shut it off?!? I wanted to turn off my brain, at least that part, so I could pretend he wasn't Kira. He'd taken a _bullet_ for me, and now I was merely thinking of statistics and percentages and _he was dying_! Well, not really, but the chances of him surviving were higher than him dying, but _why wasn't the ambulance there yet_? Yes, that was a much better question as I realized I hadn't called one. Panic set in again and sound came back to me with a disorienting 'pop' and I looked up. I looked at the people surrounding me for the first time since the bullets had showered the night air with blood and watched them. Matsuda was flipping out, saying how he needed to go write a report for having discharged his weapon. Mr. Yagami was kneeling next to me on the cement, a hand on my shoulder as he tried to see his son, tried to make me move out of the way. But I didn't want to move, and seeing as how I got what I wanted, I stayed in place. Mogi, oh, wonderfully sensible Mogi was on the phone and giving our location! I wondered how much time had elapsed and then my gaze shifted to Aizawa; Aizawa who was running across the street, gun un-holstered, and heading to presumably grab the body of the 'shooter.' It was funny, in a morbid way, how when Light had been injured the world had narrowed to just us two. I'd almost completely forgotten the presence of the others around us, even though they had been pivotal in the event that had just occurred. But _Light_ had been _shot_. And I needed to get myself together if I wanted to regain control of the situation.

"Mogi-san," I said, my voice sounded slightly detached and monotonous. My gaze was all for Light, once more, but my words directed to the large man who'd called an ambulance. "Go help Aizawa, that man might not have been alone." He did as I instructed and I said, more firmly, "Matsuda-san!" He stopped his fidgeting and freaking out, slightly shocked at being addressed by me directly, and I continued. "First of all, thank you. Your agility and swift response is something I probably owe my life to. If you and Yagami-san," and I adjusted my gaze to the man sitting silently next to me, "Hadn't been so quick with your own weapons I'm certain he would have fired a second shot to finish the job. So, thank you, both of you." The look in Mr. Yagami's eyes was slightly frightening, as if he'd have preferred me taking the bullet than his son. And some sick and twisted part of me agreed with him. But, regardless of that, the problem was that Light _had_ taken the bullet and was now bleeding against my palms and _where _was_ that damned ambulance_?!

Finally, after what seemed hours but was probably minutes, the tell-tale wail of sirens filled the air and I felt myself bodily relax as it swerved around the corner. There was some difficulty in transportation, because clearly I was not related to him but I demanded upon going with him in the ambulance. Only one person was allowed to accompany the wounded inside and Mr. Yagami was about to put up a fight. I held up my hand chained to Light's and easily lied that the only key was inside my room. After that the arguments had stopped and Mr. Yagami grumbled and let me call Watari for the limo that would escort the police officers. And then more policemen arrived and swarmed the area, Mogi and Aizawa had come back out of the building across the street and headed back towards me. Aizawa looked clearly distressed about something, but Mogi looked like he always had: unreadable. But he had eyes only for me, as if he'd discovered something I needed to know.

But whatever it was would have to wait as they lifted the stretcher, with Light on it, onto the ambulance and locked it in place and I climbed in after him. It wasn't a comfortable ride, to say the least, and the tiny seat I did have forced me to sit like a normal person, feet planted firmly on the floor and my shoes had to stay on. They had hooked him up to an IV and put something over the wound, but blood still steeped slowly through the white square bandage taped to his now bare chest and I moved my right hand to take his still left one. The sight of blood still wet on my hands surprised me and I pulled it back quickly towards myself, then raised them up in front of my eyes and looked at them. Who had that guy been? How had he known who I was? What was going on? Why did he look familiar when I had never seen him before? My photographic memory clicked on but, try as I might, I could not recall ever seeing him in my life.

When the bullet had been removed and the wound stitched up I felt a lot better. I'd gone into the surgery with him despite the protestations, and I had put on one of those masks when they shoved one in my hands. He was going to be alright. Light was going to be fine. And when they finally moved him to another room (I had made sure it would be a private room and that he'd have no roommates), I perched myself in a seat, pulling it right up to the side of the bed and perching myself on it as precariously as I ever had. My shoes and socks were discarded below the chair, and I wanted to take Light's hand but I didn't. The others were in the room now as well and Mogi came over to me and silently handed me something wrapped in a brown paper bag.

I took it and placed it in one of my pockets, thinking to look at it later, and Aizawa walked towards me, eye twitching in obvious anger. "I told him not to take it. He didn't listen to me. The least you can do is look at what may just cost him his career!" I blinked as realization hit me that Mogi had taken something from the body of the man who'd tried to kill me. It was illegal to remove evidence from the scene of a crime, why would he do that unless he wasn't sure if it would be something I wanted to become public knowledge? Mogi had declared his loyalty to me early on, and he had been a valuable member of the team, and now he was proving more valuable to me yet. It was then I decided to have Watari make arrangements so that if any of them lost their positions, they and their families would be taken care of for life. And so I took the paper bag back out of my pocket and looked inside cautiously, the contents surprising me by merely being a simple brown wallet; the wallet of the man that had tried to take my life.

I looked up at Mogi and said, "Thank you. I'll examine this later. This is very appreciated." Aizawa seemed annoyed and frustrated at my words and I longed to tell him off, but emotions had been running high since the event had taken place and everyone was closer to their snapping points. The door opened again and Matsuda stepped in, carrying a tray with several cups of coffee and a bunch of sugar packets (mostly for me) and some packets of cream. It wasn't until everyone aside from Mr. Yagami had left, and then he had fallen asleep, that I even considered looking at the wallet. I decided against it due to the sheer fact that the hospital was a very public place, and besides, the chain on my wrist jingled a bit and it wasn't of my cause and I heard a groan come from the bed. I stood quickly and noticed his eyes flutter open, then close tight against the bright lights within the room, and his left arm came up and over his eyes to block out the light. And I smiled broadly and before I knew it my lips had found his as I was bent over the side of the bed, one hand on the pillow beside his head and the other on the very edge of the mattress.

The kiss had obviously taken him by surprise, but once he figured out it was me kissing him, he was kissing me back. He chuckled softly as I pulled away and leaned my forehead against his. "I should get shot more often," he mused and I frowned, pulling his hair gently before kissing him again.

These kisses were nothing like the heated, rushed, passionate one we had shared in the kitchen. These were slow, gentle, languorous and lingering in their intent in melding us together. I felt fused to him, my lips glued to his, until I finally had to break for air once more, my lungs burning as I sat on the side of the bed, one hand still tangled in his brown hair and I muttered, "I absolutely forbid you." He laughed and I crossed my arms over my chest, not meeting his eyes. How dare he _laugh_ at me? _Well_, I smirked as I thought, _I guess I can't really forbid him from it…and I wouldn't be here if he hadn't_. I shook my head and noticed Mr. Yagami waking up as a result of the laughter being emitted from the bed and he walked over to us.

"Why didn't you two wake me?" he asked, and I froze. The words _it never crossed my mind_ and _I'd forgotten you were here_ hardly seemed appropriate. No, if anything, they'd just cause red flags of alarm to be raised and that wasn't something we could afford. I moved back into my chair and hoped that Mr. Yagami hadn't found it odd to find me sitting on the bed. I watched Light shrug and I finally found my voice again, "We thought we'd let you rest, Yagami-san. Besides, I was just informing Light that he hadn't really missed anything."

"Now I have a theory," Light winced as he propped himself into a sitting position. "You had a heart attack a while back, Dad. What if Kira's power isn't absolute?" Mr. Yagami and I both looked at Light and pondered this; it just seemed too difficult to believe. But everyone had their flaws, and maybe, just maybe, Kira wasn't as powerful as we believed. What if Light jumping in front of me had been something he couldn't control? The only way to know for sure was in the brown bag in my pocket, well, it might be able to tell us something, at least. But I didn't say anything; I knew that if Mr. Yagami found out what Mogi had done, as Chief he'd feel wrong and somehow obligated to report the issue. So I kept my mouth shut and when Light said he was fine, no, _insisted_ he was fine, Mr. Yagami finally left. We didn't really talk much after he left, the nurse had come and gone saying he needed to rest and that visiting hours were long over. I'd merely shrugged and laughed when she'd threatened to call security or the cops and have me thrown out. And the next morning I woke unmolested, his hand warm and alive in mine, and he was discharged and told to have lots of bed-rest. I doubted he would listen to that advice, but that was his choice.

It wasn't until we were alone again in our shared bedroom that I took out the brown bag once more. The crinkling of the paper riveted Light's attention at once and he asked, "What's that, Ryuuzaki-kun?" I looked over at him, hearing the chain clink as he wheeled his seat closer to mine, we'd been sitting in front of the computers, and I pulled out the wallet.

"Mogi-san took this off the body of the person who shot at me." My voice was mechanical, methodical, and I tossed the paper bag on the floor, placing the wallet on the desk in front of us. He had tensed at my words, his right shoulder shifting uncomfortably and I flipped the wallet open. There was an I.D. in there proclaiming the name _Justin J. Tailor_ in bold letters, then his description and picture.

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A//N

Dun dun dunnnnn!

Review!


	9. Twisted Midnight::Chapter Nine

**Author's Notes**;;

I had to fix Chapter Seven, apparently. A BIG THANK YOU to UnePetiteLesbienne for letting me know it was all screwed up. So if you ran into the same problem she did, where Chapter Eight filled both slots, it's been fixed and you have my sincerest apologies. -sighs- lol.

****Mature Content Warning****

This is for everyone who's been sitting patiently and wondering _when_?!?!?!?!?!?!

**Ragamuffin**;; Hehehe ^-^ yes, I thought the kiss cute and oddly appropriate (story-wise, not circumstance-wise with Soichiro so close). As for Justin, well, you'll just have to keep reading. :D As far as Soichiro seeing them kiss is concerned, he didn't. But alas, I think someone is going to have to figure it out soon. And yeah, the little details that I seem to be obsessed with are often the things that keep things believable and create that, as you said, ability for the reader to connect with the story and the characters.

**daiyu amaya**;; Ha, yeah, I like plot twists. Gyaahhh, my fic has plot! Oh noes! ;) Thank you so much for the review, it's definitely heartening and flattering.

**lady firefox**;; I love your handle, mainly because I love Firefox. Ahem, well then, I'm glad to say that question will be answered in this chapter…before things get heated up.

Right, well, as they say: The show must go on!

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Chapter Nine:

Justin J. Tailor. The name was clear and I met Light's gaze before turning to the computer in front of me and entering his name into a search. It didn't take long to figure out he'd been the brother of Lind L. Tailor, and he'd also been a member of the Japanese police until the day before. A bit more digging turned up more results that Justin and Lind had been partners in the crimes they had committed. Lind had been the one convicted, refusing to name the second person, and Justin had walked away from it unscathed. Apparently he'd been doing digging of his own to find me, and he'd succeeded. After all, I was the one responsible for Lind's death and I had used him as nothing more than a pawn on a chessboard. I probably would have been mad at me if I had been in Justin's shoes. Now the only questions that remained were that if he'd found me, how many others had been with him? Had there been any others? Was the fact that I had stopped changing position been what had led him to me? No, I discarded the latter, although it did hurt to have to stay in one place. It made me more vulnerable.

There had been one other chilling thing in the wallet he'd had. It had been a sketch of me, and it had been pretty accurate. There weren't that many people in the world who knew who had seen my face, and far fewer than that who knew my true identity. This was mind-boggling; someone I had _trusted_ had given someone my face. I could tell Light was on the verge of collapsing into slumber at the desk, and despite being wide awake, I stood up. The doctors said he needed rest and relaxation. He was insisting on helping with this whole thing, and so while I unwillingly deprived him of relaxation I was not about to deprive him of rest. "Come on, Light-kun. Let's go to bed."

A slow smile spread across his face and he stood up, grabbing his pain meds from the desk and asked with a voice laced with confidence, "Are you asking me to go to bed with you, Ryuuzaki?" He started moving again, stepping towards me, "Because if that's the case I really don't think I have the energy right now." I resisted the urge to hit him, or poke him with something sharp, and decided to ignore him. He closed the distance between us and stood behind me, wrapping his arms around me and I shivered. His lips hovered near my ear and warm breath tickled as he whispered, "It's sweet of you to be concerned, but I want to get to the bottom of this as well. Don't say 'let's go to bed' simply for my sake."

I nodded and turned around, wrapping my arms around his waist and just looked at him for a moment before hesitantly bringing my lips to his. The kiss was brief, chaste, and when I pulled away again I said, "You were right." At the look of confusion on his face I took a deep breath, hating admitting defeat in this. "Last week. You were right when you said I wouldn't try." Realization dawned on his features, reddish-brown eyes blinking a few times and he opened his mouth to speak but I gently laid my fingers over his lips, stilling them once more. "Don't. If I don't say this now, then I probably never will. You were right when you said I wasn't willing to try, and even now I know I shouldn't. I hate feeling this way, torn between want and should. I should stop this, us, just as much as I should never have kissed you in the hospital."

I brought up one hand between us and pushed an arrant lock of hair behind his ear so I had an unobstructed view of his eyes, eyes that missed nothing, and I continued speaking. "I should turn away from this." I brought my face closer to him and his lips sought mine. I pulled back, not having finished speaking quite yet, and when I resumed my voice was lighter. Not quite a whisper, but if he hadn't been standing so close he probably wouldn't have heard me. "But I want you. Despite my inner voice of reason, I'm attracted to you." A small smile curved up the corners of my lips and I pushed away, tugging him towards the bed. "Light-kun," I said, in a much more energetic and sing-song tone of voice, "The Doctor said you need to rest." I climbed onto the bed and patted the spot next to me and watched as he rolled his eyes, but gestured at his clothing and I frowned. Going through the motions we changed and headed for the bathroom, and when we finally _did_ get settled into bed it didn't take him long to fall asleep. Surprisingly, after not sleeping at all two days in a row, I found it hard to fall asleep once again.

I'd never seen the point of kissing. Whenever I'd watched a movie, or read a book, I'd wondered why people bothered with things like kissing. Sex was a different story, fornication was for the purpose of procreation, yet another thing I never saw myself ever involving myself in. Did I want the proverbial happy ending? No, I'd always known it wasn't for me. I was fairly certain I would die relatively young. Death wasn't all that much of a scary concept, and when you didn't have anyone that would really care if you died to worry about, knowing you would die was easy. We would all die someday; it was just a matter of sooner or later, really. In my case, I had a feeling it would be sooner rather than later. I vaguely wondered if it should have been that gunshot. But, alas, I had been spared to live another day. Eventually I slept, and when I woke up each day even I had to admit I liked knowing I could kiss him if I wanted to. Showering together the next morning felt more awkward than usual and we seemed extra-careful not to accidentally touch. All our cards had been laid on the table, and things were different now.

Time moved on, the Earth continued to rotate on its axis, and we pressed into September. Things with Light and I were progressing slowly, but they _were_ progressing. As promised, I was a difficult person to be with, not because I meant to be, but mainly because I didn't have any experience. He also tended to make fun of me by blaming it on how abnormal I was, but I'd learned to ignore such comments. In front of the others we were Light-kun and Ryuuzaki-kun, and as annoying as it was we were still hiding our relationship from them all. But when we were alone things were an entirely different story. We were still learning each other, and it was September third when something of note happened: we closed the Tailor case.

As it turned out, one of my not-so-socially-acceptable contacts of mine that had been into bank robbing before I'd met him had been the one to rat me out. But he was dead now, probably killed by Tailor after he'd finished getting the information he'd wanted. And the Team once again had nothing to do but wanted to celebrate. Light pretended he wanted to go and I made it clear I didn't. Eventually the others had to accept we weren't coming due to our being chained together and me usually getting what I wanted. Little did they know, Light was also getting what he wanted. I slipped off my chair and straddled him, sitting on his lap and tucking my feet between the back of his chair and his back. It was one of my new favorite positions to be in, and I kissed him, ignoring our location in favor of the sweet sensations coursing through my body. My tongue slid against his in a now familiar dance and I felt his hands gripping my thighs and then he stood up, my legs and arms tightening around his waist and neck respectively to keep from falling. But it wasn't necessary, as he brought us both down to the floor, only breaking the kiss when we needed oxygen.

I exhaled sharply as his lips and teeth found my neck and my back arched of its own accord as my body wanted _more_ of Light touching me. He shifted our weight so I was on my back, his body pressed tightly to mine and his tongue still setting my skin on fire as it caressed the outer curve of my ear, slipping inside swiftly before rolling around the lobe and I moaned, my hips thrusted and my groin rubbed against his thigh. There was no point in denying or hiding the fact that, by now, most of the blood in my body seemed to be concentrated below the belt and I ached for attention. We hadn't given in to those carnal pleasures yet, neither of us felt particularly secure in the relationship and we both still had our own trust issues, but this time I felt his hand slip down beneath the layer of my jeans and I stiffened, much like my throbbing member and he paused. "I – is this ok?" he asked, and I thought about it. Two weeks wasn't all that long, really, and we'd been driving each other crazy to the point where he usually wound up having to take care of himself and I waited for my own discomfort to go away on its own, something he often commented on being ludicrous.

Finally I nodded and felt him undo the button of my faded, baggy blue-jeans and they slid down my hips and they came to rest mid-thigh. There was something intoxicatingly thrilling about being de-clothed by someone that wasn't me, and I realized I didn't actually mind that it was Light. And then thought was something I was once again rendered incapable of as his hand slid into my boxers and long fingers wrapped around my length. The time for thoughts like _maybe this isn't such a good idea_ seemed to be long past and I knew I was opening myself up to new, unexplored dangerous territory as my hips bucked into his hand. As a result of my obvious want for his attentions, he began to stroke me slowly. Oh, sweet arduous torture it was as his hand quickened its pace only to be brought, once again, to a snail's speed when I could feel myself on the verge of something. My body tingled all over and what was left of my nails had raked lines of red down his back, rarely drawing blood but it was inevitable, really.

My pants and boxers were completely off by now, a tangled heap by my feet as his hand quickened once again and I let out a throaty moan, head leaning back against the carpeted floor of the main office and whispered, "L-Light…p-please." Apparently it was all the convincing he needed as his hand moved faster than I had thought possible, the motion moving over me slick with my own pre-cum and then I felt something hot and wet take the head of my inside and I looked down. His eyes met mine briefly before his mouth sunk lower on me, sucking and licking as though I were a lollipop he intended to devour and this was an entirely new sensation altogether. I felt a tightening in my sac and my hands tumbled into his hair, fingers lacing through the silk-like tresses and stars exploded behind my eyes. "Nnhh, Light!" I panted, feeling that euphoric release that I knew logically came from the discharge of Serotonin but it didn't even register that he'd swallowed and I was slowly coming down from that high when his lips were on mine once more. I recoiled slightly at the taste and he laughed, curling his body around mine and I could tell he was _happy_ to be there.

When I could think again I turned around, smiling a bit shyly, "Thank you. That was, I mean, it was…" I paused, giving up on words entirely and just kissed him again and then a feral grin graced my features as I flipped him onto his back. "My turn…" I murmured against his ear before my tongue darted out to taste the salty skin. He shivered and I smiled, licking along his neck again and he let out a soft moan. I let my hands drift down to undo his brown pants and I pulled them down, tossing them and his boxers to join my own set on the floor, and I placed a hand tentatively on his thigh. I traced closer, rubbing countless gentle infuriating circles on his abdomen, thighs, anywhere in the vicinity I could reach and he growled in frustration whenever my hand brushed against his rigid manhood and I finally took it in my hand. It was so warm and I wasn't quite sure I was doing it correctly at all, but I began to stroke him like he had done to me. Slowly, teasing, and I ran my thumb over the very tip of him which made his eyes close and he began to sweat.

I liked seeing him like this, I decided, as I continued to stroke him. I could feel my own shaft rise back to life as I worked his with my hand, but I ignored it. Slowly I replaced my hand with my mouth, rolling my tongue around him and he squirmed, and it was his turn to have his hands in my hair. I decided to try something, knowing that it might only be awkward, but I knew where the gag reflex was and how much time I could probably withstand having pressure on it and I pushed him in as far as my throat would allow and pulled back out, wrinkling my nose at the sensation. It wasn't pleasant, but he'd seemed to thoroughly enjoy it, screaming my alias into the empty room. I was set to do it again when I heard my phone ringing. I pulled off of him and he growled, "Can't you just ignore it?" I smiled and shook my head, rummaging through the pockets of my discarded jeans and finally finding the phone.

I flipped it open, "Hello, Watari." I knew he was out attempting to discover if Tailor had had any accomplices for any of his crimes against me lately, and I was set to listen to the report when I felt a hand on my penis. I shot a look at Light who only smiled deviously and pushed me back onto the floor, back pressed once more against the carpet and he was suddenly kissing me everywhere again. "Uhh…nnng, W-Watari c-can we talk l-later?" Light chuckled before sticking several fingers in my mouth and telling me to suck. He had returned to stroking me with his free hand, "Uhhmmm n-no I'm fiiiiiine…" I muttered into the receiver before doing as instructed, wondering why on Earth he wanted me to. When he pulled his digits out of my mouth once more I realized I was still on the phone, and Watari had said something about an accomplice. "Watari I…repeat that, please?" But I never heard the words as I bit down hard on my own hand to muffle the scream that came when I felt one of his fingers in a place I was fairly certain it shouldn't be. "On second thought" I said, and he slipped a second finger, invading me and I squirmed, eyes bulging. But it was still tolerable and I forced myself to relax. He slid a third finger in and when he made a scissor-like motion I said, "No!" A moment of panic engulfed me but his other hand still stroked me, distracting me from the pain and I said, "No…not you, Watari…mmm, I, er…L-Light!" Watari wasn't an idiot and I was fairly surprised he hadn't figured out by now what was going on, but I just said, "I'll call you, nrrrg, later…" Then I flipped the phone shut and chucked it across the room as I felt him slip something much bigger into me. I had half a mind to protest, but then the tip of him hit my prostate and all thoughts of saying no were suddenly replaced by my new desire to just say _yes_.

* * *

A//N

Hopefully this was worth the wait and your patience?


	10. Twisted Midnight::Chapter Ten

**Author's Notes**;;

****Mature Content Warning****

**Ragamuffin**;; Ha, yeah, with the whole thing with the phone I was like…I have to. It would just be _funny_. :D As for Watari, he _does_ seem to know everything regarding L. Thankfully, he was out of the building. Although what he had to say _was_ important, I will add that L putting it off is going to come back and kick him in the ass.

**Salaa**;; Well we're our own worst critics, much like L. It's part of being human, I suppose. And yeah, the phone call thing was just…classic.

So…I pretty much have nothing else to say. O.O

* * *

Chapter Ten:

The next morning I woke up curled and wrapped in his arms and in our bed. We'd managed to move into our room (taking our cast-off clothing with us) and more or less collapsed on the bed. The light filtered through the crack between curtains and I buried my face in his chest, not wanting to move just yet, and was content to lie there. But when he stirred and woke up, I shifted so I could look at him, meeting his gaze steadily, unblinkingly. He smiled and said, "Hi…"

I blushed but didn't look away. After the night before a simple 'hi' didn't feel remotely suited for how I was feeling, but also made me feel warm inside. "Hi…" I replied finally and glanced at the clock. My eyes widened at how late it was, considering it was seven-thirty in the morning, and I sat up. Pain, holy shit, pain showed its ugly face in my rear and I pouted, glaring at Light and he raised an eyebrow. "It…hurts!" I said, whining a bit and he laughed, pulling me towards him and kissing me.

"Want me to kiss it better?" he asked, and I pushed away from him and stood up. I undid the clasps on our wrists long enough to take off our shirts, both stained from sweat and other bodily fluids, and we trailed towards the bathroom, my hand in his as I led the way. After a few minutes of trying to feel _clean_ again I felt him behind me and his lips were on my neck, his body pressed against mine and I could feel his arousal taught against my back. I leaned into him, tilting my head to the side to allow better access, and then shook my head.

I turned around slowly and said, "We really don't have time for this…" But I kissed him anyway, enjoying the feeling of water running over my skin; enjoying the feeling of Light's flesh pressed against mine. I felt myself harden and I leaned in closer, my own rod rubbing against his and he moaned into my mouth and I devoured it happily. "Uhhhh…Light, we should, uh, stop…" But I made no move to follow my own advice as I felt him caressing me and I shuddered. He turned me around so that I was facing away from him once more and he brought us to the floor. I turned up the heat of the water and felt him preparing me once again. I ignored the discomfort as anticipation tingled across my skin and soon enough he was inside of me. I knew then why sex seemed such a big deal to people, it was like a drug and I could tell I was fast on my way to becoming addicted. The thought should have bothered me, but in that moment of blissful intercourse nothing bothered me. It was something I would have to think about later because as he pumped in and out of me, sliding against my prostate with each stroke, he wrapped a hand around my waist and it stroked my own shaft in time to the rhythm of his thrusts. And even the knowledge that it wouldn't be comfortable to sit down for a while wasn't enough of a deterrent to cause me to scream anything other than his name, profanities and indecipherable, inarticulate moans of pleasure.

Suffice to say we were late that morning getting to work, the other Team members already in the main office twenty minutes prior to our arrival and we entered without fuss and ignored their stares. I tried not to think of how I'd lost my virginity in that room and I almost laughed aloud as I realized my firsts had all been in odd, non-traditional locations. First kiss – kitchen. First time having sex – the main office of Investigation headquarters. But I had no reason to complain and I risked a glance at Light quickly to see him working on the Kira case. A fresh wave of guilt soaked through me, I was sleeping with the enemy in all meanings of the word now. Light had been Kira, of that I was certain, even if I couldn't prove it. I knew I wasn't in love with him. I think a small part of me _did_ love him, but I was in no way _in love_ with him. And he wasn't in love with me. But we did happen to be well-matched for each other.

If only circumstances had been different.

I recalled having hung up on Watari the night before and noticed my phone was still in its position below Matsuda's desk. "Oh…Matsuda-san," I said, looking over at him and he jumped, obviously wanting to feel useful and I resisted the urge to snicker. "My cell-phone is under your desk, please hand it to me."

He blinked, confused, and looked under his desk, reaching for it and said, "But why was it-"

I snatched the phone from his outstretched fingers and said, "Because I threw it there last night," cutting off his words and looking back at my monitors. My tone had been clipped signifying the end of the discussion and I looked down, wincing as I noticed three missed calls from Watari. I winced for a different reason as I stood up and dialed him back and ignored the confused looks from the rest of the Team and the smug one I received from Light. When it was almost to voicemail an unfamiliar voice picked up and I flipped the voice scrambler on my phone to the 'on' position so he would hear someone that sounded mechanical rather than me. "Hello…L."

I chewed on my bottom lip thoughtfully and felt a hand on my shoulder. Turning, I looked into Light's concerned eyes and stepped closer to him, taking comfort in his presence. "Who is this?" I asked simply, awaiting an answer. A minute ticked by, then two, and I checked that the time measuring the phone call's length was still moving to see if we were still connected before speaking again. "I seem to be at a disadvantage. You know who I am, but I have no idea who you are."

Laughter was the only thing I heard for another minute and then there was some more silence. Finally the man said, "You don't know me. You wouldn't know me. But I have your Guardian hostage, and unless you do exactly as I say I'll kill him." I inhaled sharply and stuffed my free hand in my pocket, knowing it would seek Light's if left on its own, and he began speaking again. "You have one week, L, to get me six million, in U. S. dollars, and after this week is over we will make an exchange." The phone clicked shut and when I dialed it again it went straight to voicemail.

I slipped the phone into my pocket and turned around, facing Light and the other members of the Team. They were all looking at me as if I were a ghost, not really there, and I probably looked paler than usual so as to play the part. I opened my mouth to speak but nothing came out. Closing it once more I cleared my throat, feeling Light's grip on my shoulder tighten and said, "Watari…has been kidnapped."

The result of that simple statement was tremendous. Everyone began talking at once as Mr. Yagami said we should contact the police. Matsuda pointed out that they _were_ the police and I was L, super-sleuth, and we were unbeatable. Aizawa agreed with Mr. Yagami and Mogi just remained silent. I turned to Light and asked, "Light-kun…can you cancel your date with Misa-chan tonight? I – I could really use your help on this." I turned away so he couldn't see the pain in my eyes and he pulled out his own cell-phone, flipping it open and pressing the speed dial that would connect him to Misa. I turned to the others and said, "As for contacting the police, I do not want to drag them into this. This whole thing will become quite a circus if that happens and my very identity would be at risk. You are the ones I trust, and it has been proven to me that I cannot as easily trust as I have, apparently. Going to the police is out of the question."

"So, do we pay the ransom, then?" Matsuda's face betrayed his anger at the thought but his voice wavered.

"It can't hurt to have the money prepared just in case that…in case there's no other way, Matsuda-san." He nodded and I turned to the others again, seeing Light flip the phone closed and he nodded at me. Good, one less problem out of the way and I stepped closer to him once more. "Matsuda-san," I added, and he turned his full attention to me once more. "I will put you in charge of that. Mogi-san, will you please retrace Watari's steps from the last few days? I can provide you with where his intended location had been." I froze, wondering if I ought to mention the phone call from the night before, and decided against it. The others would want to know why I hadn't heard what Watari had called to say, but Mr. Yagami spoke next, surprising me.

"Ryuuzaki-kun." I looked up and met his eyes, a darker brown than his son's, and I nodded. "When was the last time you spoke to him?" I shifted uncomfortably on my feet, knowing it would be a bad idea to lie. He was good at his job, he'd made Chief, after all, and he hadn't gotten there by being a slacker. I respected him too much as both a man and an officer of the law to lie to him.

"Last night." Again a restless stirring within the group and people trying to all say things at once.

"_Silence_!" His voice was loud and rose over the cacophony of other voices in the room easily ad he resumed his questioning. "Ryuuzaki, this is very important. Who called who? What did he say? Did he sound stressed or abnormal to you?"

I swallowed hard and looked down before looking up once more. "I, well…I mean to say – I don't remember." He blinked at me, shocked, and I said, in a bit of a rush, "He called at a bad time and I was very distracted and eventually I just said I'd call him back but I forgot to and then when I came down I saw I'd missed several calls from him. No, I don't know if they were all from _him_ or his abductor," I added the last, already knowing what question he was going to ask and I felt my face burning as I recalled the reason for my distraction. "I don't remember what he said, but-" I froze as I recalled that he always set up a machine to record all of my phone calls with him when one of us had to leave the building. Shit, I couldn't show them that…if they heard, well, it would be fairly obvious to anyone listening as to what (or who) the distraction had been and that would be…bad. But if I didn't show them and suddenly remembered the next day they would all be that much more suspicious. I was in a rut, stuck between a wall and a hard place, and I didn't know if my sense of justice or my pride would prevail.

"But what, Ryuuzaki?" His voice was gruff and he took a seat, pulling out a pad and pen to take notes and I shivered involuntarily. "Where were you when he called, what were you doing?" I shook my head, crossing my arms over my chest before pulling out a new jolly-rancher, having finished the one I'd been sucking on previously. I slipped the red candy into my mouth and perched back in my chair once more.

"Yagami-san," I said softly, looking over at him. "I need to converse with Light-kun for a moment. Please excuse us." I stood up again and more or less pushed Light out of the room. We went the length of several hallways and up a flight of stairs before his arms were around me and I clung to him, wrapping myself in his scent. We kissed then, and it felt like that first time. My heart beat furiously and when I finally pulled away we were both out of breath. "Light…I need to find Watari."

He took a step back from me, his face firm, and said, "I know. And we _will_. I'll help you in any way I can." I nodded and didn't meet his eyes, "What's wrong?"

"I don't think I should lie to your father about, well…it's always best to tell the police the truth in kidnapping cases. Any slight detail over-looked could be that crucial piece to turn the tide." His face closed up as the thought of his father knowing what we had done crossed his mind and he visibly went pale. "Light…my conversation with Watari was recorded. Only Watari and I know of this, but I need to listen to it to find out what he said to me last night." I smirked, despite myself, "I wasn't exactly paying attention." I took in a deep breath and let it out slowly as I felt him pulling me towards him again. I took the comfort he offered and said, "I need that tape."

"I know," was all he said. "I don't like this much, I probably wouldn't mind as much if it weren't my _father_, but…" I nodded and we started walking back towards the main office, chain clinking as our joined hands swung between us. "What's going to happen if the truth comes out?"

I thought about it until we reached the door. Finally I settled on the truth, "I don't know."

* * *

A//N

Yeeeeaaaaa, time for more drama, yay.

That's all for today's updates. Please review!


	11. Twisted Midnight::Chapter Eleven

**Author's Notes**;;

**I finally know where I'm going with this! Yes, I admit, aside from the scene where Light takes a bullet for L, I've been making this up as I went along.**

**But now I have a direction, and I've finally thought up a plot for the sequel. When I started writing this I realized I wanted there to **_**be**_** a sequel. But you'll have to wait and see, because I **_**finally**_** know how the rest of Twisted Midnight will turn out. Personally I felt the last few chapters to be a bit sluggish. But now that I know exactly where it will go, the quality will go up; starting with this chapter.**

Ahem:

**Tarshil**;; Thank you SO MUCH for the review! ^-^ hehe I had decided that if I ever hit a writer's block (or when I finished the fic) I was going to go back and fix all my typos. I do make quite a few, at least in my opinion. I have to admit the whole comparison to life and a box is my thought process, I actually wrote a poem about that once. I have a lot of similarities to L, least of all a lot of the same bad habits and my addiction to sweets (not to mention I really don't ever sleep). I'm extremely flattered that you like my depiction of L.  
**Ragamuffin**;; Your reviews always make me smile because you get so into them. :D I love it! And yes, people are going to be finding out soon. -gasp- But, that's in this chapter.  
**Some Girl101**;; Ah, well, in regard to the tape being shown, L is facing unknown enemies and, while he _is_ a genius, he'd already admitted to not remembering the conversation. These aren't the normal criminals he usually faces; they don't know what he looks like or where he's located. Also, if he suddenly remembered things the others might get suspicious. Well, I think I address this more fully in this chapter.  
He's going through a really tough time right now with Light, and then everything that was happening with Watari being held for ransom, and I'm still trying to learn L and at the same time make the character my own. Well, the OOC-ness is something I'm trying to work on and now that I finally know where this story is going I will be more likely to actually fix this.

* * *

Chapter Eleven:

When I stepped back out the room fell into a hush. It was the type of rushed silence where I knew, and they knew I knew, that they had been talking about me. Well, about Light or myself, or perhaps both of us. I took a deep breath and braced myself, "Yagami-san." He had no need to look at me at my words, in fact, no one had moved considering all pairs of eyes were on me at that point to begin with. I felt Light's hand on my arm and I pushed it away, annoyed. "Stop!" I whispered, turning to glare at him, snapping despite the fact that I didn't mean to. I felt anger as the realization hit me that Watari wasn't here and someone had actually had the audacity to think they could take him from me. _Me,_ of all people. I was L, and I was not going to let anyone take that from me, not even Light. I couldn't afford to be coddled and nor did I want to be.

"Yagami-san, I don't recall the conversation," I held up a hand and added, "Please don't ask me why. The phone call was recorded, I'm going to go listen to it and therefore be able to tell you what it was that-"

But the Police Officer stood up, his bulky frame seeming larger than I recalled, and he said, "I'll go with you." His face turned grim, "I think I should hear this tape as well. In fact, it might help if everyone-"

"Dad!" Light's voice had been unexpected and he stepped forward. "I mean, well, not _everyone_ has to hear it if…Ryuuzaki-kun doesn't want them to." I ground my teeth against the things I wanted to say, because I wouldn't mean any of them. And, after all, he _was_ just trying to help me. "I suppose…I mean, if he doesn't want-"

"Is there something you're not telling me?" Light's father was sharp, his years on the force obviously honing skills that he'd been born with and Light shrunk back. I gave Light a pained look and realized that, if I just complied with them and showed them a vulnerability, then perhaps they would all trust me more in the long run. I might be L, the world's greatest sleuth, but for the first time since the BB murder case in Los Angeles, I would be going up against someone that already knew who I was and what I looked like. It was a scary thought and I felt driven to take extra precautions. Watari was my main source for almost everything, with him gone having the police working with me to solve this wouldn't be a bad thing. If it meant my pride suffered for it, so be it. I didn't think I could do this by myself, or, if I could, I didn't know if I would survive it. My anonymity provided me with protection. It was a solid defense as well as an offense, but I was stripped of it here in all but name. I couldn't afford to be sloppy; it just might cost me my life. Besides, if Chief Yagami thought I was withholding evidence it _could_ be grounds for an arrest.

"Perhaps," my voice rang into the air as a heavy silence had slipped between the three of us. Tension was in the air like static electricity and they both looked at me as I attempted damage control. "Yagami-san…you could listen to the tape with me and then determine if you…_want_ the others to hear it." I nodded and tilted my head, pulling out a lollipop and sucking on it as the jolly rancher was gone. This was going to _suck_. But thankfully neither Light nor his father pressed their issues and the three of us headed out of the room and towards control, a place I'd never intended on showing anyone other than Watari or myself. The room was filled with monitors and other various equipment that I mostly ignored as Mr. Yagami stood in the doorway and Light trailed six feet behind me, as always. I pulled out the cassettes and something to play them with, and all three of us left the room that was Watari's domain. I led them down onto an un-used floor and we made our way into one of the lounges. I flipped on the light and set the device and tape side by side on the small, round table all three of us fit around without being too far from each other. It was a table meant for six people, but the three of us were more or less comfortable other than the suspect circumstances and the nerves in the pit of my stomach.

I made no other move, unwilling to be the one to put the tape in the player and took a seat. Eventually, though, I slipped it in and pressed the play button. Static crackled before we heard my own voice. **Hello, Watari**.

**Ryuuzaki**, Watari's voice was what broke through the static now and it sounded somewhat tense. Something I hadn't picked up on the night before and I mentally cursed myself for being an idiot. There had been no way of knowing this would happen, but at that moment I wished I had listened to him – at least heard his report. **It seems that **–

My own voice sounded again as I cut him off, breathy and _quite_ distracted and I winced. **Uhh…nnng, W-Watari c-can we talk l-later?** My hands balled into fists as I hugged my legs tightly to my body, arms shaking although barely noticeable.

**I really must insist it be now, Ryuuzaki**. The next words were more hesitant, **Are you alright? Is there something wrong?** Those I remembered.

My voice sounded heady, husky, and I marveled at the fact that it _could_ and made a note to remember that. **Uhhmmm n-no I'm fiiiiiine.**

My breathing in the recording was heavy and I chewed on the pad of my thumb as I feared what came next. **Very well. Ryuuzaki, it would appear that Tailor was in a group that consisted of several people. All people who had lost loved ones because you had put them in jail, all people who's loved ones had wound up on Death Row.**

There was a stifled moan from my end of the conversation and I recalled the things Light had been doing at that time and felt my face flush. **Watari I…repeat that, please?** He sounded a bit confused and put off but began repeating it, by the time he'd gotten to the phrase 'All people who' my voice cut him off once more. **On second thought**, but the rest of that sentence never came and I heard, **No!** I looked over at Light and noticed his left eye had developed a bit of a twitch as his gaze was solely focused on his father's face. I followed it and shrunk away from the intensity of his gaze on the device spilling my and Light's secret.

**Ryuuzaki, do you want this report or not?** He sounded agitated and I really couldn't blame him and I mentally beat myself up once again.

**No…not you, Watari…mmm, I, er…L-Light!** My eyes shot up, I didn't recall saying his name. But I must have for here it was clear as, well, light and I noticed his hands with their death-grips on his pants, knuckles stark white in contrast to the fabric, and I looked back at Mr. Yagami. A vein was pulsing on his temple and his hands were splayed on the table-top. **I'll call you, nrrrg, later…**

There was an audible click and the tape shut off. And then the whole device, tape inside of it, was on the floor as Light's father bodily hurled himself at me, fists flying. He grabbed me by the front of my shirt and hauled my face close to his and I flinched. "What the _Hell_ was that?!?" he demanded and I glared, my hands landing flat against the table and I pushed away. At the same time I saw another fist flying, one usually aimed at me, and it hit Mr. Yagami in the jaw and he let me go out of surprise. "You!" he said, turning to face his son who had been the owner of the fist. "Why you little…you're dead! I will _not_ let you make a mockery of me!"

The two looked tense and prepared for a fight and I cleared my throat. When neither of them looked at me I said, "Yagami-san!" I moved closer to them and stepped between them, blocking sight of the other from each of them as I stood to my full height. It seemed I finally had their attention. "I'm fairly certain," I said carefully, "That we were up here trying to find out what happened to Watari. This" I gestured at each of them, "Is unproductive to our cause."

The older man settled in a disgruntled fashion and took a seat once more, then bent to retrieve the fallen tape-player. He looked tired, weary, and I knew he didn't need this kind of stress. I could tell that the thought of Light being gay made him feel ashamed, and why? Because _society_ frowned up on it? That damned box came to mind once more and I pulled my feet onto the seat, my hands coming to rest on my knees. Light finally sat down as well and we all just sat there for a few moments, letting the things that had just happened sink in. "I have to show this to them, the others…if we're all supposed to be working as a team then we all should be on equal ground. We all need to know what each other knows to be effective."

I nodded. Truthfully, I had been expecting an answer like that as my toes curled of their own volition over the edge of the seat and I swiped my thumb over my bottom lip before chewing on the nail thoughtfully. "I see. Very well, please do what you think is necessary, Yagami-san. Watari is very special to me and I need him to survive. I will do my utmost to share any information that may be relevant to finding him," and I silently added, _and I will destroy those who dared to take him_.

He stood up, the player in his hands still and he said, "I'm going to call the others into a meeting. I don't want either of you in the room, understood?" I nodded and didn't dare risk a glance at Light. He muttered something about understanding and then his dad left the room, presumably to go and find the others. After a few minutes I felt a tug on the chain and noticed Light getting up and I got to my feet as well, feeling disoriented. I turned to him and just slipped a hand in his, vaguely reminded of the first time I had seen Whammy House, hand tucked safely into Watari's. I'd known him a long time, I should have had more respect for him, enough to listen, anyway. But alas, he was taken and all I could do now was get him back. And I _would_ get him back.

He led me towards our room and led me to the bed, laying down in the center atop the blanket and I curled up next to him. I sunk into the fetal position, one leg absent-mindedly curling around one of his as my head rested against his chest. His hands stroked my hair and neither of us said anything for a while. Eventually his cell phone rang and it was his father. He picked it up hesitantly and when he hung up he gave me a meaningful look, "They…they're requesting us go down." I nodded and unfurled myself, feeling no more concrete than a puff of smoke, and our hands parted only when we were directly outside that door again. Taking a shaky breath I pulled on it and it slid open without complaint. As we walked in they were all looking at us oddly, which I couldn't really blame them for, and they sat with their chairs all pulled up together and the tape player resting on the tray that usually held tons of sweets. The tray that had wheels and that Watari used to bring me sweets. I took a deep breath and another step closer, taking a seat and watched as Light remained standing. And it was like that we sat, no one really knowing what to say that could break the ice and not make this any more awkward than it already was. Finally Light broke the thin glass and it spider-webbed before shattering. "Right, so…you called?"

* * *

A//N

Alrighty! Wow. I'm all _ because I _finally_ know where this is headed. Again, sorry for the aimlessness lately!


	12. Twisted Midnight::Chapter Twelve

**Author's Note**;;

**Freakitten**;; Thanks! I really appreciate your review and I hope I don't wind up disappointing you (or anyone else). He _is_ a difficult character to write.  
**Ragamuffin**;; Yeah, Soichiro has issues. Lots of them. –sighs- Well, I think you'll like this chapter. I do, so far. Can you tell the difference in my writing now that I know where it's going?

* * *

Chapter Twelve:

Tense didn't even begin to describe how the next few hours went. The Team had finally gotten over their shock, and Mr. Yagami was more or less ignoring both Light and I unless he needed to ask us questions pertaining to the case, and I was in my usual seat trying to track Watari down. The sensor that was usually in his shoe was apparently in a sewer in the Kanto region, but the one I had put in his hat was in a dumpster behind a restaurant in the Shinjuku area. I had one more tracker to find, but it wasn't even a blip on my radar. And tracking his cell-phone while it was off was difficult, but it _was_ possible.

Matsuda was at the bank arranging to take out the necessary funds in case the exchange needed to happen. Also, if they were watching me, they would have noticed if I weren't making any effort to get them their requested money. What they didn't know was that the ransom money was coming from an account in which I had specified only give me marked bills. Mogi-san was out doing fieldwork at the locations I knew Watari to have been in last, as well as heading to the river and the restaurant. If there were any clues we would find them. His instructions were to call from each site and give me a visual via the laptop I'd made him bring and instructed him in using properly for the purposes of this investigation. Aizawa was at the Police Station trying to track down Watari's cell-phone. We also had it set up that if the kidnapper called again and I answered, Aizawa could listen in and try and figure out the location of the caller from there. The police had their uses and I was bent on utilizing anything possible that would help me find Watari. Find and rescue Watari, and send the people who'd dared take him from me to jail.

When everyone aside from Matsuda and Mr. Yagami had left for the day, (Matsuda because he was living at Headquarters and, well, I wasn't sure why Mr. Yagami hadn't left yet but he was still there) I drilled onward. Eventually, though, Mr. Yagami asked to speak to Light privately and I refused to take off the hand-cuff to allow him to do so. "He's still my prime suspect in the Kira case, Yagami-san."

"I think, Ryuuzaki, that perhaps your judgment has been impaired. Or perhaps you forced him to, what, fool around with you by promising to clear his name? You _do_ have a tendency to use people!" He pointed accusingly at me, "_What did you do to my son?_" I stood my ground, face impassive as usual, and Light was the next person to speak.

"He didn't _do_ anything to me, Dad! And stop pointing – it's rude." That vein on the side of the older man's head was bulging again and it looked painful, but he lowered his hand and cringed at the obvious thought of being taught manners by his son. Light spoke again before I could say anything, "He didn't promise me anything! In fact…" I watched as he took a step toward his father, "If anyone did anything to instigate last night it was _me_."

Mr. Yagami took a step closer to Light and said, "I will not tolerate that in my family or in my house."

Light only smirked confidently and said, "Good thing I'm not living at home then." I read the narrowed eyes and knew the statement had hurt him to say, but I remained silent. This was obviously a family matter and something I wasn't part of. Matsuda had made himself scarce when it had begun and I believed him to have gone to the kitchen, but for all I knew he was standing outside the door. I couldn't really go check. I sunk back into my seat not sure when I had stood up and curled into my usual position once more, relaxing once Light's father had left, and I turned back to my computer.

"Light-kun," I said softly, looking at him with just my eyes, not turning my neck in order to see him fully. "Why did you do that?" He sat in his usual seat as well and I prompted, "Why did you say those things? He is your father, do you" I paused, searching for the right words. He'd essentially told his father he chose me over his family. No, perhaps it was simpler than that. Perhaps he was merely telling his father, in not so obvious tones, that if it hadn't been me it might have been some other guy. A surge of jealousy flooded me as I pictured him with some faceless man and I was glad I'd gotten to him first. Wait, what was I thinking? This man was Kira. Kira might have had motive for driving his father away…but I didn't _want_ to think of Light as Kira anymore.

I blinked; my judgment had been compromised by my feelings. Kira would want to win me over in a blatant display by driving his father away and showing me he cared for me. Kira might want to drive his father away in case, one day, he had to run for it or kill his own father. If, for some reason, Kira had to make himself scarce in the future and perhaps faked his own death, then driving his own father and family away would hopefully mean they would mourn less the death of their son. No, it didn't really work like that, but Kira was childish and perhaps thought that might work. "Ryuuzaki…my father should accept me for who I am, not who I am with."

I almost asked him several times for proof he wasn't Kira. And there were other questions I wanted to ask him too, but I was afraid of the answers I might receive. His fierce denial of being Kira would certainly flare up, and he'd demand to know why I still harped upon that when he'd just told his own father off in my defense. But I needed to know, and someday I would ask him, _Light…did you kill him? Was it you or just someone else with your power? No, it must have been you, although your type of killings until that point didn't include the mentally unstable._ And then my questions changed for a minute for, in that minute, I was going under the hypothetical situation in my head where I was certain of his guilt. _Why did you kill him?_

Well, that answer was obvious, but there was so much more to a person than the surface of what they did. The depth of their emotions and state of mind weren't reflected as easily on the still waters that belied their true natures. Until Light had killed _him_, I hadn't felt the need to involve myself with this case. In fact, there had been a small part of me that had agreed with Kira. And then I was back to doubting Light's identity as Kira once more, back to doubting myself, and back to wondering just what kind of situation I was in. Eventually I settled on the fact that even though I knew I should step off this perilous cliff and get out of this relationship, there was a selfish part of me that wanted to have the cake and eat it, too. And Light was deliciously irresistible.

The door opened and Matsuda came in carrying what was left of the Baked Alaska that had been in the freezer and he handed me a slice which I took and began picking at more than eating. Light politely declined and those were the only words he spoke until the next morning.

Mogi had called during the course of the night from each of the locations and, while there had been nothing suspicious at the sewer, nor inside of it and I was glad we had infrared cameras that we could hook up to the laptop and dangle into them, but there had been signs of a struggle behind the restaurant and dried blood on the corner of the garbage bin. It was one of those large, industrial sized ones and it was forest green. But the Ultra-violet light I'd had Mogi bring found blood stains and I instructed him to take a few swab samples to be compared to Watari's DNA. Finally, around five-thirty in the morning, I told him he'd done a good job as he handed everything back to me. He went up to one of the empty bedrooms and did as I instructed; he rested. I'd told him to have a lie in, to sleep late, but he was there the same time the others joined Light and I once more at eight. The usual time. If any of them noticed that neither Light nor I had changed our clothing, they didn't say anything, which was probably for their benefit as I was likely to snap at them for any small infringement on their parts.

When Aizawa showed up that morning, for he was supposed to visibly check in with me three times a day, I handed him the blood samples and asked him to forward me the results when he had them. He took them with a nod and headed for the forensics lab at the police station, it was his specialty after all. Having the cooperation of the police department without the actual department _knowing_ about it certainly had its benefits and perks; yet another reason I hadn't been keen on keeping them out of this. Any help provided, no matter the source, was better than none. The police could be effective in the right circumstances.

I jumped as my phone rang and pulled it out quickly, noticing it was from Watari's cell and slid a cord into the slot that the charger normally went into. I pressed a button on the computer that would connect the phone to Aizawa's office computer and let it ring until it was almost too late. I flipped the phone open and made my voice sound breathy, as if I'd run to get the phone as I pressed another button for the voice converter. "Hello?"

"Ah, L. I assume I am speaking to L. Take off the voice converter or I will kill him." I shivered and prepared myself mentally for what I had to do.

"Not until I know he is safe. I want to hear his voice, I want from his lips he is for the most part unharmed." I waited as silence fell over his end, and then there was a shuffling and Watari's voice came as if from a distance.

His voice sounded tired and cracked, as if they'd tortured him, "Don't give them anything! Don't do what they want. Just" But he was cut off and there was a thud and a grunt.

"Did I _say_ you could say that? I _said_ to tell him you were fine! You idiot! Do you _want_ to die here?" Silence once more and then the abductor's voice came over the receiver once again. "Now, you've heard his voice and aside from a bleeding lip he is fine."

I hesitated, hand trembling as my finger hovered over the button and I felt the phone slide out of my hand. They already knew so much about me, I didn't want to give them this. Light was holding it and he turned towards the computer, opening up a word program and indicated I should tell him what to say. I nodded and he pressed the button and his voice was confident, something I didn't feel at the moment. "Very well, here I am." Light never deviated from the words I typed, speaking them fluently and I understood just how charismatic he could be when speaking. His tone changed flawlessly as he conversed with the abductor, and I listened the whole time since he'd switched the phone's speaker to 'on.' The location of where the exchange would take place was settled and then the time. Light was smiling into the receiver, he had them convinced of his, L's, sincerity and when he hung up I was glad for it.

He walked back to his computer station and said, "Remember how you asked me to constantly scan for his cell-phone, Ryuuzaki?" At the same time Aizawa called Matsuda's phone, the only one I was allowing on aside from mine and Light's, and I told him to answer as I looked at Light's monitor. The signal from Watari's cell had been scrambled, but there was one location that had been transmitted at the very beginning at the call and once more at the end. He couldn't be Kira, or so I told myself, but there was no evidence proving his innocence yet and so I couldn't, in good conscience, release him from custody. I smiled as I took the phone from Matsuda. I compared the location Aizawa said he'd tracked the phone to and it was a match. Well, it seemed this was a point for us, but it could still be a trap. I thanked Aizawa and asked about the blood that Mogi had collected. He said he'd have the results in an hour and I thanked him again before hanging up.

I pulled up a satellite image of the area that Watari's phone, and probably Watari himself, were in and realized it didn't look much like anything. It was also three blocks away. Smiling once more I called a break, much to the relief of the other members of the Team, and I headed for the kitchen as my stock of sweets had been nearly depleted over night, Light trailing six feet behind me as usual and looking like he was about to collapse if he didn't get some sleep soon. I had pushed him to stay up all night, but he'd never complained. He knew how much Watari meant to me and had stayed up all night with me to help figure this out. I studied him carefully, pondering whether or not to let him sleep, and he shook his head as he read my thoughts in that uncanny knack he had of doing so. "Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. We can rest when we've found Watari." I nodded thoughtfully as I took a sip of coffee, stirring it with a lollipop as I mixed in more sugar.

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A//N

OK, so I really like it. Yeah, I can definitely tell the difference in my own writing now I have direction and purpose again. :D Can you? O.o


	13. Twisted Midnight::Chapter Thirteen

**Author's Note**;;

Ick. Soooo I broke my fast and decided to read a fanfic. And now I'm all grrrr because I hated how it ended. That is all. I'm in a mood, heh, much like L in the first chapter was. Gee, wonder where I got inspiration for _that_ from…

**Freakitten**;; Yay, I'm glad you're enjoying the fic. Sadly, it will eventually end, but I plan on writing a sequel. And as for checking for updates, YAY, that makes me feel happy! I'm still tweaking the ending of this in my head, I know which elements I want to bring out of each ending, but it's putting them all together that seems a difficult puzzle. ^-^  
**Ragamuffin**;; hehehe, Soichiro hasn't told Sachiko yet. (I wonder if anyone else ash noticed all the other names start with an 's' aside from Light's? Soichiro, Sachicko, Sayu…ok, random thought over.) Although he was probably in a foul mood when he'd gotten home. I intend on addressing Sachiko and Sayu in regards to this in a different chapter, or perhaps the sequel. –snickerfits-

Well…

****Mature Content Warning****

Chapter Thirteen:

After everyone was called back to Headquarters we made a plan to rescue Watari. I didn't want to bring in the HRT, it would cause too much commotion if I needed to contact the FBI, and so we made plans to get blueprints of the building Watari was being held in. I trained satellite images around at all angles so I could watch to make sure they didn't escape, and for the first time I thought I wouldn't mind if Kira killed these criminals. No, I shouldn't be thinking things like that, I _should not_ be understanding of the criminal merely because I felt wronged here. I knew it was just my grief at not having Watari around, and I focused, trying to think clearly. Light touched my shoulder gently and I brought my hand up, giving his a gentle squeeze that didn't go un-noticed by the other members of the Team, and then resumed my speech.

"As you can see there are two visible entrances to the building. However," I paused and pointed at the screen showing a sewer entrance two blocks away, "I highly suspect this tunnel might run directly into the warehouse as well." I nodded to Light who hacked into the city's encrypted database and pulled out the tunnel plans, displaying them on the screen. The only person not present was Mr. Yagami, thankfully, who seemed to be avoiding us at all costs.

Aizawa cleared his throat and said, "Uhhh…are all the city plans just…open to the public's perusal like this?" I chuckled in a way that clearly said _no_ and he looked away, a faint blush coloring his cheeks. "I'm going to pretend this never happened…" he groaned but looked back up at the screen so I could continue my demonstration.

I pulled the stick that no longer had a lollipop attached to it, since I'd eaten it long ago, and traced the most likely route into the building. "We will enter through here." Matsuda's eyes bulged and mine narrowed to dangerous slits, "Yes, through the _sewer_, Matsuda-san." The raven-haired officer in question put up his hand as if saying 'I have nothing to say.' I nodded and again pointed at the screen. "Well, I should amend my statement. Three of us will enter through here. Light, Matsuda-san and I. Mogi-san and Aizawa-san will be sitting in this parking lot until I give the command." I pointed out the parking lot less than a block away then said, "And Yagami-san…" I sighed and looked at Light and we exchanged a look only the two of us understood. "Well I suppose it depends if he's willing to help us or not."

"He'll help." It was Matsuda, unsurprisingly, that had spoken and I looked at him quizzically. "I, well, I mean…he told me to tell him _every_thing that was said in here." I nodded and let it be. Fine, if the grown man wanted to avoid us and play child's games then so be it.

"Yagami-san will drive an armored truck to _this_ location," and I pointed at a corner that would obviously be seen by the windows in the warehouse. "He will sneak out of said van and leave it there to hopefully serve as a distraction to our foes. We don't know how many of them are in there, of course, but with strategy and luck we should be able to get out of this unscathed. After Yagami-san is safely out of the van he will enter through here with smoke bombs as well as grenades of knockout gas, and any other artillery he feels is necessary. We will all be equipped with proper masks and air filters. After he has successfully infiltrated their base he will let Mogi-san and Aizawa-san in through _here_." Again, I tapped one of the screens. "We will set up a set of code words and signals." I pulled out several sets of children's walkie-talkies and gave one to each, then gave the extra to Matsuda. "Please train them all to channel 3." They all did as instructed and looked at me once again and I shrugged. "Well, everything after this point in the plan is luck I suppose. I'll, erm, see you all tomorrow and I'll see if I can gain more intelligence on these guys. Also, I'll hammer out more finite details as to how _I'm_ getting into the building."

And with that, the others more or less departed, and I pulled Light towards the kitchen once again, making myself busy by pulling out the teapot and actually making tea. It was more for something to do with my hands as I grabbed a mix of herbs then added some Echinacea that had already been ground and stuck them all in a small ball, adding tiny, dried rosebuds as well. As I set the pot on the burner I fidgeted in my pockets, finally coming out with the last of my lollipops and sticking it in my mouth. Watari always replenished my need for sweets, and I felt at a loss without him around. I felt hands wrap around my waist from behind and Light's chin rest on my shoulder and I spun around, looking into his eyes as I took a step away. He let out an exasperated sigh and asked, 'What's wrong?"

I shook my head slowly, "I – I don't know. Light-kun, you make me forget myself; you make me _feel_." He blinked, confused, "But…I can never forget, not even for a second, that you might be Kira…and I _did_ forget, Light-kun." I rattled the chain between us that felt more an extension of myself these last few days than like any foreign metal. How things had changed so drastically. The boy I'd chained to me and couldn't stand being near had somehow become something I wasn't sure how to be away from. Would I say this to him? No, surely not. Would I admit that kind of weakness to him when I couldn't even admit it to myself? Naw, not me, not L. And so I lived in an unhealthy state of denial as I took a step closer to him, pulling him down for a kiss and my fingers played with his hair gently as our tongues caressed like waves on the shoreline during the lowest of tides. "I hate Kira…" I said aloud, but mentally I had to add, _But I love Light._

"I hate him too," Light's voice said as he pulled me into a hug. "Why do you think we're trying so damned hard to catch him, Ryuuzaki?" I smiled and clung to his warmth because he was real and he was here and not only saw past the layers of façade I wrapped and cloaked myself in, but he met them and challenged me. And he cared. Oh, I knew he cared about me. Despite the age difference between us and despite being detective and suspect, there was no getting around the fact that we cared what happened to each other. I nuzzled my nose and lips against his neck and kissed him gently over his strong pulse and I heard a noise from the doorway, a clearing of the throat that was distinctive. We both turned to look, seeing both Matsuda and Mr. Yagami standing in the doorway.

The former looked like he was ready to burst at the seams, torn between emotions I couldn't read, and I wondered what thoughts flitted through his head to cause him to look…distressed? The latter of the two men, however, was avoiding looking at us directly but as we separated they came closer. It seemed the further I stood from Light, the closer his father was willing to come. When I could move no further due to the chain between us he finally spoke. "Ryuuzaki-kun, Light-kun, Matsuda-san has informed me of your plan. I will cooperate with you in this," and his gaze turned to Light, "But only for the sake of getting Watari back." He looked like he were steeling himself to say something and eventually did, "As for…afterwards, I cannot give up on the chase for Kira." Eyes still trained on his son he added, "I didn't mean it…what I said before. This just isn't easy to accept, and to have it thrust upon me this way…"

I frowned, he was obviously referring to the tape and I realized something. "Yagami-san…are you angry Light-kun did not tell you himself? Are you angry that, perhaps, Light-kun hadn't trusted you enough? Or merely told you, warned you, before you had listened to the tape?"

He looked at me, really looked at me, for the first time since he'd found out and said, "Ryuuzaki-kun. Your…relationship with my son isn't something I approve of. There are a number of reasons, least of all being age and one of them being gender, and then there is the fact that you _still_ suspect him of being Kira. I don't understand what it is between you two and I don't want to, but it is Light's life if he wants to condemn himself to a life in Hell." His gaze locked on Light again, "You're still my son…and whether I like it or not I'm stuck with you." And, speech apparently over, he turned and left. Matsuda hovered a few moments longer and gave a hesitant smile and gave a thumbs up in our direction before following his superior. I merely blinked, feeling as though I'd been hit upside the head with a brick, and I looked at Light who looked just as bewildered as I felt.

"Well," I said, breaking the silence like a bell struck in the morning hours. "_That_ was unexpected." I turned off the pot and poured it into a plastic container and put it in the refrigerator so as to make it iced tea for tomorrow. We headed back to our room silently and I knew nothing had really changed. We cared about each other, it didn't meant that, if he _were_ Kira, that one of us would hesitate to take the other down. But for now our twisted midnight was good enough so we could pretend everything was alright. After we'd changed and brushed our teeth for bed, and this time I'd left my shirt off, I looked at him a moment. "Light-kun…" I said, facing him so that his back was to the bed and I began to push him towards it. "I want to be on top tonight."

He chuckled and fell against the bed, knees buckling and he sat down abruptly, surprised he'd gotten to the bed already. "Do you, now?" he asked playfully, his hands moving to hold my hips.

I nodded and kissed his cheek, "Yes, I want to try it." I smiled deviously, "Since apparently we're on this path of succulence, splendor and scandal that according to your father leads to Hell, I might as well experience _all_ of it, right, Light-kun?" I purred and licked his neck tentatively and he just nodded, tilting his head to allow me better access. I smiled victoriously thinking how easy that had been and pushed him back so he was lying flat on the bed and I slowly pulled off his boxers, savoring the sight of him because I really _wasn't_ sure it would last. Maybe, very deep down, there was actually a part of me that longed for my happy ending.

But my happy ending consisted of physical impossibilities, and so I let my mind devote itself to my task as I sucked and licked at Light's erect phallus, my hand stroking the base of him when I could no longer deep-throat all of him in due to discomfort. I felt that he was close and I pulled away, giving him three of my fingers and uttering another s-word as he'd instructed me the other night, and he obeyed, a smirk playing at his lips and a light dancing in his eyes that was only for me. And I repeated in him what he'd done to me. After all, fair is fair. An eye for an eye, one for one, and then I was making my way inside of him and damn he was _tight_. It was different, not a bad different, but just different. It felt good, amazing, to be inside of him and connected once more with him. He moaned in both pleasure and pain as we slowly built a rhythm and euphoria took over and I stroked him, bringing us into our Utopia, where together like this we were untouchable by any outside force.

Fire and ice exploded as he released, muscled clenching around me and causing me to follow suit and I spilled into him, our stomachs both wet with his own seed and I collapsed on top of him, not moving out of him just yet. I wanted this feeling of being with him to last. And although I now knew which position I preferred, this was pleasant in its own way and I wasn't necessarily adverse to doing this again. But I preferred the bottom, it was honestly just less work and more pleasurable, in my personal opinion anyway. And I knew Light well enough by now to know he preferred the dominant position. I felt calmer than I had all day and the night prior. I knew where Watari was and I had a plan for saving him. Not only that, but my time with Light seemed to be full of surprises and seemed to have settled into a sort of routine, which wasn't a bad thing. I had an addictive personality and Light Yagami had been an object of my fascination for quite some time, it wasn't really that surprising it had come to this. Or so I told myself as I eventually drifted into the unconsciousness of slumber.

A//N

Well then, that was interesting, ne? Oh, and, Ragamuffin, I'm glad you noticed that indeed I _am_ more confident with an actual plan. :'D


	14. Twisted Midnight::Chapter Fourteen

**Author's Note**;;

**Ragamuffin**;; Whoah, you people miss _nothing_. Nothing, I tell you! Yes, I'm rather loopy right now due to lack of sleep and I'm at work. -.-  
**Freakitten**;; :D YAY well, ahem, so to feed your addiction…

**Alright… Sadly I am going on vacation soon. I will **_**most likely**_** not be able to update between Wednesday and Monday. However, I will try my best to keep writing and hopefully by the time I am back will have more than one update for you. The time around the Holidays is usually most difficult for me when it comes to free time.**

There will most likely be one more update before I leave for my trip, but don't hold me to that. The more reviews I get the more chapters I will write while I am away. I will be checking my email and checking on reviews. ^-^

Ku ku ku  
While I'm gone try not to go too deep into withdrawal, eh? ;)

* * *

Chapter Fourteen:

When I woke up I could feel Light behind me, his left arm resting under both my pillow and neck and our hands were entwined, spooning comfortably. I turned gently then poked him repeatedly until he woke up. Four in the morning though it may have been, I was disgruntled at our position. "Oy…" I said as he blinked one eye at me, flipping around so his back was to me and then cursing the chain for being a nuisance and flipped onto his back. "You moved me."

He glared at me and simply said, "Yes." He curled up to me, head resting on my chest and I could tell he was settling to go back to sleep.

"Why?" I asked, not annoyed anymore, merely curious. I actually hadn't thought he'd answer so bluntly. I smirked, trying to push my luck. "Light-kun…"

He groaned and said, "Because it was uncomfortable. You fell asleep quickly and I didn't think you'd mind." His voice was somewhat amused now and I poked him again. "What _now_, Ryuuzaki?"

"Nevermind. I'll ask you later," and I kissed the crown of his head and said, "Go back to sleep. I know you want to." The promise I'd made him had kept me from asking that which I really wanted to know. The fact that he'd answered my first question so easily tempted me to break that promise, but another part of me knew that there was another, very selfish reason, for me not asking. _Are you Kira?_ I settled for asking it mentally instead of verbally, shifting a bit so I could watch him sleep.

He did go back to sleep, trusting that I didn't have anything important to ask him. Trust was a many-edged sword, and in this case he was wrong. I had a _very_ important question to ask him, but I couldn't – not in this room. And it wasn't only because of the promise I'd made, but also because I didn't want to shatter the thin layer of ice that was our safety net against falling into the deep waters below and drowning.

When he woke up again it was nearly seven and he let me know with his actions what he wanted to do, and I let him top once more. It hurt less, which was a good thing; it meant I was getting used to it – adjusting to it. And by the time we were showered and dressed we were only a few minutes late in going down to meet the others. Mr. Yagami's eyes darted over our appearances and wet hair, "Where were you two?"

I frowned and simply stated, "Don't ask questions you don't want the answers to, Yagami-san." The mortified expression on his face and Matsuda's surprised laugh made me smile in a slightly victorious way, and with that I took my usual seat, Light taking his on my right, and we discussed our plan of attack. We were no longer on the defensive, we knew where they were and we were taking control. This was a full out offense against them. Aizawa wanted to call in more Police, but I vetoed the idea immediately and, to my surprise, so did Mr. Yagami. And then the only question left was _when_ to implement this plan. We settled on the fact that they might be expecting some sort of retaliation that day, so waiting and hopefully lulling them into a false sense of security would be best. We wanted to provide the calm before the storm, and so we prepared to strike the next day.

I was on a hunt, only I knew where my prey was, I just didn't know if it had any traps set in motion for me or not. The rest of the day went considerably better now that we had a plan, and back-up plans for our plans if they were to fail, and when Light and I settled into bed that night it was with that thrill that came with knowing what I was about to embark on. I could be _killed_ in this venture, but I would see Watari saved before that happened. I was determined and it burned like coal in the pit of my stomach, embers unwilling to die until my goal had been attained. I didn't sleep at all that night despite the sex (which was amazing) and instead sat with a flashlight and magazine to pass the time. Light needed his sleep, and I wasn't going to keep it from him that night of all nights with what we were going up against the next day. If it weren't for his pride, and for the chain that bound us together, I would have suggested he stay back. I knew the slowly healing wound on his shoulder still pained him from time to time, and I was often the one changing the bandage on it, but I knew he'd never let himself stay home.

_Home_. I'd referred to the new Headquarters as home several times, and I wasn't sure how I liked that. The concept of _home_ was a foreign one to me, and I wondered what had changed this for me to call this _home_. It wasn't _home_-like in any way, a big building meant to accommodate a small army, but for some reason it felt right calling it by that word. I looked to my right and a chill ran up my spine as I wondered how much my calling this _home_ had anything to do with the boy sleeping peacefully. If he weren't here, would this be _home_? If he weren't here, where would _home_ be? Would it move to where he was, or would I merely move on to a new location like I had every other time in the past? Somehow the idea of _home_ existing without him hurt, and I didn't want to think of the ramifications that thought process revealed. _Home_ was a foreign concept to a nomad such as me, and I wasn't sure how much I liked it. _Home_ implied a sense of permanence, and I disliked staying anywhere too long. But if _home_ were a mutable, pliable thing would merely taking him with me bring _home_ with me, too? And, lastly, if he were Kira and he were executed would I ever feel at _home_ again? I realized I liked the feeling of _home_, but by the time I'd grasped that it was morning and he was stirring next to me. _Home_ was waking up, and I welcomed it by stifling my thoughts so he wouldn't catch a trace of them. I could allow no further weakness to show in front of him.

Three hours later we were on our way. Matsuda, Light and I went in through the sewer entrance, Matsuda letting out a low snarl of disgust at the smell of the tunnels and I ignored him. Light only told him to be quiet as we headed in the direction we'd memorized from the map. We were each in dark wet-suits, with bullet-proof vests over it. But we were stumped when we reached a wall where there should have been a left turn and I pulled out a tacky material that would blow it out of our way when we could find no other way around it. I just hoped it didn't bring the ceiling crashing around us. But there was something _different_ about this section of wall, almost like it was made out of a different material. And so we all stood back and I pushed a button in my pocket as it exploded small sections of the strange wall. It collapsed in a pile of rubble and I stepped closer, peering through the dust and smoke into the other side.

Through there we walked the length of a short, low tunnel and came to another wall that looked out of place and much thinner than the previous one. I took a cloth, wet it from a bottle of water, and swiped at an area and noticed it was merely clay. Nodding, I took out a small knife and gently carved a circle and pulled out a small contraption that sucked air into it without much more than a small _whooshing_ sound. I switched it on so the small circle of clay I was cutting would go in that in stead of falling into the room beyond. Once done I had a nice-sized hole through which I could see but would probably not be visible to anyone inside the room. And what I saw froze me. Watari was chained to the far wall and he was slumped over, apparently unconscious, in a standing position.

"Wait for my signal," I said into my walkie-talkie and clipped it back to my belt once more. I pulled out a smoke bomb of my own and told the others to put on their goggles and face masks that would filter the air they breathed. "Alright, at," I pulled out my watch, "Eleven exactly we will synchronize our entrances. If _anyone_ is having a problem with this click the talk button in this sequence." I demonstrated the beep-beep-beepbeepbeep and they all acknowledged the plan. As the minutes ticked by I placed the explosives around this new, more fragile wall, and I told everyone to get down. Dried clay, when in shards, could be sharp as knives and it was no falsehood that blades passed through Kevlar quite easily. I would _not_ risk people's lives so early.

When it became seconds and no one had signaled they were having any difficulties I breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, as the second hand ticked to the twelve, I clicked the button again and the detonators wet off, reacting to the unique sound wave being transmitted from the device in my pocket. The wall shattered like a ceramic pot landing on the floor and shards flew everywhere. As that happened I simultaneously threw the smoke-bomb in with the hand not on the detonator and I counted to three. "Now!" We sprung up and headed in, infrared goggles allowing us to see in aspects of heat rather than our normal sight in the dark room. Light and I walked forward, leaving Matsuda to watch our backs, and we checked the chains for traps. After ascertaining they were safe I pulled out a set of lock picks and heard a satisfying click as I maneuvered the catches inside the mundane locks and he slumped into our reach.

I froze as I heard a gunshot from upstairs and I handed Watari to Matsuda, "Get him out of here. Get him to Headquarters." He nodded and carried the older man as if he weight nothing, something I didn't like to think about, and Light and I sprinted up the stairs to see what was going on. I tore off my goggles as we reached the door to the upper level and I didn't look to see if Light followed suit, I trusted him enough to know he would. I checked the handle; locked. I spun, kicking in the door and the wood splintered, not having time to bother with picking the lock. Besides, we weren't really a surprise anymore by that point. Mr. Yagami had one man with his hands cuffed behind his back, a gun on the floor by where his knees rested as if he'd dropped it, and I looked around the room. There were three other people I didn't recognize on the floor, either dead or unconscious, and the Team were all on their feet, Aizawa cursing under his breath and rubbing his chest but otherwise alright. The Kevlar had done its job.

I checked the men on the ground. Two were dead and one was on its way, bleeding profusely, and I checked their persons. When I found the same sketch on each of them I put them all in a metal bowl and burned them, feeling an immense satisfaction as the paper curled and blackened and shriveled in on itself. I nodded imperceptibly towards Light and he approached the kneeling man confidently, smirking. This had been planned out between us (although he hadn't wanted to at first); he was to take on the role of 'L' as if they'd truly been duped the whole time; that perhaps their 'friend' had given them the sketch of the wrong man. This was my last ace, so to speak, and Light said, "Did you really think you would win against me?"

He kept to the script, mentioning justice and foul play, and backstabbers…and eventually I turned to Mr. Yagami and said, "Bring them in to jail, the ones that are alive, anyway. The rest can shack up at the morgue…I doubt they'll mind." In that moment perhaps I was merely playing into the Devil's hand, but I liked the idea of Light being my heir. A Light free of the shadow of Kira, for any other would be a sham, but I still wasn't sure that could ever be.

I watched the blue eyes flick from Light to me, matching Light's vocals to the person he spoke to and my face to the sketch. "B-but…wait, if you're who, I mean to say, which…" I smiled broadly in a way people had told me was 'creepy' and leaned in, leering at him in that wide, unblinking fashion I had mastered.

"Deal with the fact for a moment that you have lost." I gave him a moment to think about that statement and continued. "Your uncertainty is indeed warranted." And I nodded to Mr. Yagami who hauled the man to his feet, pulling out his cell-phone and calling the station so to get an actual police report written up by this point. I turned to Light, "Perhaps we ought to make ourselves scarce, I don't want to be here later." He nodded and, due to being chained to me, had to leave with me.

"Where's Watari?" Aizawa asked and I turned to him slowly, pulling out a lollipop and sucking on it gently.

"Safe." It was the only word required, one we all understood, and I turned with Light as we walked back the way we came and headed towards _home_.

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A//N

I hope you're enjoying the story so far, please leave me a review!


	15. Twisted Midnight::Chapter Fifteen

**Author's Note**;;

Welllll I did say there might wind up being one more update before my vacation, and here it is.  
**Freakitten**;; I like what you _did_ say, though. :D And, well, 'as you wish.'  
**Ragamuffin**;; Zomg, I know, right?! Watari is so…well, -smirks- you'll see.  
;; Thanks for the review! ^-^ And I'm glad you like how I am portraying L. That made me smile. :)  
**Melodic ****Masterpiece**;; Hehe THANK YOU SO MUCH for the review and, uhm, EVERYTHING. Hehe I got like five emails with your name in them and I smiled all corny-like. ^-^ I'm glad you like the story! And as for _hours_, ahem, yes I suppose it is getting quite long. My, er, apologies? :D

****Mature Content Warning****

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Chapter Fifteen:

Watari woke slowly in his own bedroom, Light and I there keeping him company. We'd gotten back to Headquarters and found Matsuda patching the old man up with the first aid kit out. He was bleeding in some places but would more or less be fine. With Light's help we'd moved him to his bedroom on the floor above our own and laid him gently on the bed. If it hadn't been for Matsuda actually being good with a first aid kit, we'd probably have had to take him to the hospital.

His eyes were the first sign that he was waking, moving a tad behind closed lids. Then a soft groan and his eyes opened, tongue darting out to lick his lips and I grabbed a glass of water from the table beside the bed. "Ryuuzaki…" he said, voice not sounding nearly as strong as I was used to hearing it and I helped him sit up. It was strange, this reversal of roles, me taking care of Watari – strange but not annoying. Besides, it was my fault he was in this position to begin with.

"Watari, I…" but I couldn't continue. I had switched back to English as if on auto-pilot and looked down, unable to meet those wise eyes that I had learned to trust. "I'm sorry." There, I'd said it, and I actually felt better for it if only slightly. To my surprise he actually chuckled. It was a gentle sound and I looked at him, a bit confused.

"Ryuuzaki," he said gently, putting a hand on mine. "What happened that night was circumstantial. I understand that," he glanced at Light, "You were preoccupied." I opened my mouth to speak and he cut me off, "After all you've been through, Ryuuzaki, you _are_ human, and I can't blame you for that fault for it lies in us all." He smiled a bit and added, "Although I was worried about you for a while."

I heard Light snicker, obviously having followed the English without a problem, and I growled, "Watari!" I seriously debated sulking and said, "Oh, you're just fine," as I switched back to Japanese. I stood and looked over at Light, "He's fine."

"Ryuuzaki," Watari said and I turned, looking at him and my expression softening. "Everyone makes mistakes because of their humanity. When I spoke to you not even I was aware of the danger I was in."

I nodded, taking in his words. "I still feel guilty, Watari."

"And you should." He sat up a bit more and took a sip of the water, "And you should learn from your mistakes. I never doubted for a second that you would get me out of there." He took a deep breath and said, looking oddly at Light and then at me, "I think you two serve to temper each other. But you should also be wary; you each have much to lose and little to gain by this. In the end you will need to prioritize."

I gaped at him, my composure completely gone for the briefest of moments before I collected myself once again, facial expression schooled to the normal business of its usual blankness. "I…mean, well, thanks…but I don't know what you're talking about." I grabbed Light's hand, lacing my fingers with his in defiance, and half-pulled him out of Watari's room.

When we were halfway to our room I pushed him against the wall and kissed him fiercely, my hands each holding a side of his face as I childishly denied that I knew what Watari had been getting at. Light, Ryuuzaki; L, Kira. These were all markers of identities, his and mine and the unknown. And the one only Watari knew, my true name. My hand slipped downwards, sliding the length of his torso before finally rubbing over the now obvious bulge in his pants and I groped him. He licked then bit down on my neck, stifling his moan and then our lips came crashing together once more as he pulled me towards the floor in the stairwell's landing between Watari's floor and our own. I let him, playing with his hair and then ripping off his shirt, several buttons going flying. I tugged my own shirt above my head in a fevered motion, wanting to be with him, and I fumbled with his belt and, in my haste, seemed unable to get it off of him.

He laughed and pulled me to my feet, picking our shirts up from the floor and led me down the stairs, opening the door to our rooms then pushed me onto the couch, quickly joining me and pinning me on my back beneath him. He took off our remaining clothing and started the usual prep work on me, then slid into me and I moaned in satisfaction. And then we both realized something a moment too late as he slipped completely out of me and we tumbled off the edge of the couch that was way too narrow for that kind of act and I landed sprawled on top of him. He pulled me so I was straddling him and I could see what he wanted. I nodded and positioned myself so that when I sat down he would be inside of me.

My eyes widened as I felt him and I gasped. Another new position, another new angle, and then his hands were on my hips, guiding them up and down as his own thrusted to meet my rhythm. And then I didn't _need_ his hands on my hips as I rode him, and his fingers rubbed over my erection. "Light!" And, as usual, normal words failed me as the sensation of a thousand nerve endings being struck and rubbed in two locations brought me to a state of un-articulation. "Mmmf…Light…" Odd, how I could say his name without any problems. Then again, it was easy with only one syllable.

"Ry…Ryu…zaki!" And then he was on top of me again, pounding into me harder than we'd ever done before to the point where I felt he was trying to push out the other side. And I liked it as his nails raked across the flesh of my chest, raising soft, pink lines and I felt him tense. The feeling of him filling me, made me pitch over the edge of any remaining sanity I had left as, at the same moment, he bit one of my nipples and I came into his stroking hand, panting and sweating quite a bit. He rolled off of me and onto his back, the position of the couch making him roll to his right and the cold chain crossed both our chests. I shivered involuntarily and moved closer to him once more, nuzzling his neck before kissing his cheek gently.

I let my eyes close and felt my breathing even out eventually, enjoying the relaxation his company provided me and the lethargic feeling that was settling over me. I would have thought he was asleep, considering his breathing and heart-rate were of the resting variety as well, but the lack of his usual tattle-tale snores gave him away. I smiled and felt myself beginning to drift off, halfway between conscious and unconscious, and then he spoke.

"I love you."

My heart picked up speed again and I sat up in a quick, jerky movement which surprised him. From his expression he'd thought I was asleep and I panicked. Those three simple words had a terrifying effect on me and I brought my knees to my chest, hugging them tightly to my body and I shook visibly. Tears stung my eyes and leaked out the corners and I buried my face in my knees to hide them. Those three simple words replayed in my head, reverberating from cell to cell; neuron to neuron. _I love you. I. Love you. I Love. You. I. Love. You._ There were only so many ways to categorize them before I ran out, and then I felt his hand on my arm. "Ryuuzaki, I…" But he never finished his statement ad I flung my arms around his neck. That small touch had broken me from my near catatonic state and I clung to him, clung to that moment, as if I never wanted to let go.

"Light…" I whispered, lips barely moving against his ear. "Why?" It wasn't that I hadn't had the same thoughts in regards to him, although I hadn't known he'd felt the same, but hearing them and speaking them were far different than merely thinking them. When spoken they became more real, our relationship became more real, and realism made it that much scarier in the long run. I kissed him as he opened his mouth to answer me and remembered how it had all started to begin with, and could only think of stupidity. It was stupid for us to be together, stupid for us to…love each other. I was Ryuuzaki in that moment and he was Light, but he had been Kira and I was and always would be L. It was just who I was that made me the detective, and who he was that had made him the killer.

Our lips didn't part even as we breathed around each other, short, shallow breaths were what we'd learned to deal with lately so as not to be forced to part. And I was still crying, because he loved me and I loved him and we were stuck in this situation that seemed doomed to failure. And I cried because I was happy. I was happy that he loved me, and seemingly happy to throw my life away. No one had ever told me they loved me before, not even Watari. I didn't know who my parents were, so that was completely out of the question. I'd never had real siblings, only genius after genius trying to earn my place for when I was dead and gone. Sure, I had the respect and even the love of at least some of the other orphans, but it wasn't the same. They loved _L_, the great detective, but they didn't see it was only one of my masks. I never thought someone would say they loved me and mean _all_ of me, especially when I wasn't even allowed to tell them anything about me. He loved the core of me despite not needing to know what had shaped me to be this way. He loved me without needing to hear the _why's_ and _how's_ and pithy _excuses_ as to explain my personality and why I did things the way I did. Finally, lungs searing in agony at being deprived of what they needed, I pulled my lips from him and rested my forehead against his, taking my time in catching my breath even as I longed to kiss him again.

And as I touched the tips of our noses together ever-so-gently, and his hands came up to my face to wipe the tears away, I whispered my own set of words that would bring our tumultuous fall to what was assuredly to be a course destined for a crash. "I love you, too."

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A//N

I know…really short chapter. But, I couldn't destroy that as an ending.

I do _quite_ think they are addicted to sex. Or, er, as Ragamuffin would say, 'Relations.' That _is_ an awfully fun word. ;)

Well, like I said earlier, the more reviews I get the more chapters I will write while away. Reviewa to me are like Apples are to Ryuk, or candy to L. Yes, I believe that about covers it. I'm addicted to reviews so go feed my addiction. Mwahahahaha!

Please?


	16. Twisted Midnight::Chapter Sixteen

**Author's Note**;;

So my flight got canceled and now I'm going tomorrow. O.O That means you are all rather stuck with me for another day, and I don't have to go to work. –snickers-

**NOTE**;; I was planning on more chapters, but I realized they would be pointless and just retelling, the series which is something you already know. And so this is going to be the _second to last_ chapter for Twisted Midnight. I have put a poll on my page pertaining as to what my next project should be. Please go vote? -puppy dog eyes- As for this chapter, some of it is recap, just told from L's POV.

**Freakitten**;; Well, I sent you a message. Anywayyyyy…Thanks for the fix! ;)  
**Ragamuffin**;; BAHAHAHAHAHAHA I love your reviews. LOVE. Hehe lmfao. Wow. Just wow. XD And yes, Watari is awesomely awesome.  
**forgive. forget**;; Thaaannnkkk yooou. I lovers reviews, and I like my L, for the most part.  
**Pseudo Hanyou**;; Ahem, yes, well, Love and Lust are often confused, especially with the young and the ones who have never felt it before. So I'm pretty much going to re-write this fic from Light's POV some day…and maybe that will explain some things. Irregardless, THANKS for the review! 3 And yes, sadly I think we all know how Twisted Midnight is going to end, and the love makes it that much more tragic, I suppose. Although, I am flattered you think I did it 'beautifully.' I'm glad that you like it. ^-^  
**Wouldn'tYouLikeToKnow**;; Ah well, I'm addicted to writing. ;) Thank you for the review and the kind words, they are like a cool breath of fresh air in this stifling heat. (I'm indoors and my mother has the heat on full blast and I want to go outside. There is snow on the ground, let me go roll in it! LMFAO)

****Mature Content Warning****

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Chapter Sixteen:

We didn't speak of love again; in fact, we never admitted our feelings to each other again even though I wanted to sometimes. I could deny it even if I wanted to, but there was a tiny spark that had lit in me that night that wanted my happy ending, as impossible as it would have been. And September pressed on, leading us into October and our first real lead in the Kira investigation. Yotsuba Corporation's money situation was very interesting indeed, and Light's hacking abilities rendered me once again amazed. Surely, if he'd been Kira, he could have hacked into the Police's computers and left no trace as to having been there to ascertain information?

The Police, in fact, were refusing to help us with any further investigation and the Team were forced into an ultimatum: continue chasing Kira with me and quit the force altogether, or give up and remain in their jobs. All but Aizawa stayed with me, but I had the feeling he wouldn't be gone forever. He had a fire in him that burned to catch Kira, and I didn't think it would let him sit still.

Light used my name once more and I bitterly thought how ironic it was that he would never know he'd used my _name_. Well, maybe someday when this Kira mess was over with, assuming we could clear his name, that was. And then Matsuda pulled his stupid stunt after I'd specifically brought in two of my colleagues to help us, and he nearly ruined _everything_. But things worked out and we began to close in on Higuchi, things fell neatly into our clutches and we were _so close_ to figuring it out. And then I was flying a helicopter for the first time, with Light beside me, and explaining how easy it was if you merely knew where everything was and what they did. Reading the manual helped, so did having a photographic memory.

When I landed the helicopter on the road I had Mr. Yagami interrogate Higuchi, and when a simple note book was suggested as being a tool for killing, it left me stumped. And then first Mr. Yagami collapsed after apparently seeing some phantom, and then Mogi picked the note book up as well and fell beside him. Both were screaming, obviously terrified, and leaving me frustrated and clueless. Mogi stood and brought it over to me when I asked him too, warily, and I took it, holding it like it might be diseased, and then I saw the apparition that had caused them to scream in fear. More surprise than fear, actually, but still it was quite a shock. And I was still too much in shock at realizing Shinigami actually existed to care when Light tore the book from my brittle grasp and then he screamed, even as I thought that I needed to lock the note book up so no one else could use it. It was enough to jerk my attention back to him, out of curiosity and, yes, concern.

We spoke a few meaningless words about the impossibility of testing it and then Light mentioned comparing the names to the people that had died. I agreed and shivered at the smirk on his face, the gleam in his eye, and looked away. I hadn't seen those things, just tricks of the light, right? I felt cold and when I looked back at Light his body was turned away from me, a sight that worried me but I let him be. He'd been freaked out when he saw the Shinigami, more so than the others, perhaps that had to do with his age. I kept feeding myself lies that made the truth bury itself as I rubbed my chest, trying to bring warmth back into it. Rub the chest when cold, the arms moving will bring heat back to them on their own. It was basic, simple, and required no thought on my end.

His voice jolted me from my thoughts as he asked if he should check _all_ the names, even though every name on the first page matched, and I said yes. And then his back was to me once more, hunched over the laptop he was using and some part of my logic broke inside so I couldn't see it, _wouldn't_ see it. The change in him. And then as Mr. Yagami followed my orders and brought Higuchi towards the car, he collapsed. I knew that if Light was Kira he would not risk writing in the Death Note with me right next to him. Did he truly just wish to close the case? And I didn't see him writing in the note, so when Higuchi collapsed there was only one logical reasoning I could see: Light was not Kira. Higuchi was dead, and I wasn't exactly unhappy about the revelation. I kissed him on the cheek and he jumped, surprised by the action, and then took my hand as I maneuvered us back into the air. And when we got back the most suspicious evidence brought itself to light. Thirteen days. If the writer did not kill people within thirteen days of each other the writer would die.

He was released from my custody and left with the others, and I was suddenly more alone than I could remember being in my life. _Home_ was gone, destroyed utterly along with the chain still dangling from my wrist. I sat in front of my computer for hours, unsure as to what I was waiting for, but when the door never opened and Light never came back to me, I eventually went up to sit in my room. _My_ room, no longer _our_ room. But it smelled of us and it smelled of sex, and it smelled of _love_ if love had a scent. We hadn't been having sex, I knew that now, we'd been making love. And I still loved him. It was bad idea from the start, and I knew my happy ending had been shattered long before it had begun, but I wanted it. I wanted _him_. My eyes closed and I flipped onto my stomach, the chain coiling itself around my body like a serpent threatening to crush me, and my eyes stung. He was _gone_, and I didn't know how to function. And to think how I couldn't stand his presence at first, and in that moment with him gone I realized he'd become part of this room, part of my life; part of me. We had been joined together in the most intimate of ways, fused and blurred until reality ceased to exist for me. And then my cell-phone rang and I grappled for it, realizing it was _him_ and I opened it in a rush. "Light!"

I heard him chuckle deeply, as if amused, and I pouted despite him not being able to see it. "Ryuuzaki. What are you doing on Halloween?" I blinked, he _knew_ Halloween was my birthday, it was one of the few facts I had allowed myself to tell him once. When I didn't immediately answer he spoke again, "I – well, you see, my dad told my mom about you, well, I don't think he had it in him to say the truth but she knows you're my friend, well, she wants to throw you a small birthday celebration." I blinked slowly, having never really wanted to celebrate my birthday before. "Dinner will be at six…please come?"

I melted, it was the please that did me in. Birthdays were just another day to me, but his _mother_ had invited me over and he wouldn't have said please if it didn't mean something to him, right? I took a deep breath, nodded, and then realized that he couldn't see it and blushed, glad he couldn't see _that_ either. "I will." He thanked me and we said our goodbyes, him hanging up first and a dial-tone rung in my ears to replace the loss of his perfect voice and I muttered, "I love you," into the emptiness before clicking my phone shut and looking at myself in the mirror.

October the thirty-first came briskly, and I told Watari where I planned on going that evening and he was actually surprised. I had gotten to see Light every day, but it wasn't the same. True, we snuck off often enough to feed ourselves with each other, fulfill our desires and wants in the only way the other could, and then he would leave again. His father had been keeping a close eye on him and putting him to work around the house as well as buying an apartment for him and Misa. Misa, oh how I hated her, because Light was still technically with her, a fact Mr. Yagami threw in Light's face these days. I wasn't sure, but I thought Mr. Yagami was hoping that our infatuation with each other would merely die on its own if we were deprived of each other's company. But I was sure everyone knew where we snuck off to, and I didn't care. We were still just having sex, bit it was with a stomach full of nerves that I sat in the back of the limo as Watari took me to their house. And yes, anticipation thrummed through me as I _wanted_ to see him, and Misa wouldn't be there.

Dinner was awkward at first, I was introduced as Ryuuzaki, his friend from school and just someone else that was working on the investigation with us under L, and they recognized me from being the person who'd joined Light in giving the speech at the University. Small talk swirled around the table to pass the time and finally, when it was over, Light said he was giving me a 'tour' around the house and his hand slipped to my leg where the others couldn't see and I imagined being led to his bedroom and the things we could do there, and suddenly I was half-hard and I sighed. He was too good at this, making me horny, and I wasn't even sure if we _could_ do that tonight in his house. But we stood up, I was hunched over with my hands in my pockets for a different reason other than comfort for the second time in my life, and I followed him.

And then we _were_ in his room and he'd locked the door. In fact I'd only been shown the doorways to the rooms along the way to his, I realized, and smiled as he pushed me up against the wall, hand moving to my crotch and I stifled a moan as my tongue slipped into his mouth. And then we were a mass of limbs and clothing being removed as we more or less stumbled toward his bed rather than walked, crashing into the desk on our way and he swiped at it, clearing it of his paperwork and lifting me onto a sitting position on it. My legs wrapped around his waist and I saw the passion in his eyes that he usually held for me and he said, "After tonight…it will be harder for us to be together." And the flicker of _Light_ in those red-brown eyes showed me it was him speaking, not the strange replacement that had settled in like an alien after the incident in the helicopter. I nodded and realized, somewhat surprised, that we were both naked and then he lifted me up, carrying me to his bed as he laid me on it gently, almost carefully. The look in his eyes was unreadable as he prepared me for his entry and I knew that, until this case was over, this _would_ be the last time we did this. We couldn't keep skipping out of the investigation every time we wanted to have sex, and now that he was living with Misa I could tell it felt more wrong to him. I wanted to ask him to move back in, to come and live with _me_, but he being with Misa and keeping an eye on her was a good thing. And I was still lying to myself that, because of the thirteen-day rule and the fact that Higuchi had been killed without Light writing in the note book, Light was not Kira. I trusted Light, and perhaps that was my own folly, but I did.

And he lifted my legs so my calves rested on his shoulders and he plunged into me. And we made love, him stroking my own shaft even as his buried itself completely within me before pulling almost all the way out before thrusting back in and we both writhed on the bed, moaning in pleasure and enjoying each other's company. I didn't want us to end, and I didn't know why he was so different about our relationship now than before, when we'd been living together. But he loved me, of that I was certain, Light Yagami loved me. And maybe someday, if he wasn't Kira, we could have our happy ending. An audible scream tore from my throat and then was stifled as his mouth landed on mine, eyes wide and I remembered we were at his house and his family was around somewhere, and the thought was kind of kinky. My nails tore at his back and I lowered my legs to his waist, moving so my back was propped against the headboard and I was more or less sitting in his lap now. I brought my lips to his and then licked at his neck, nipping at his ears, and then we both screamed, him moaning my alias into the room and myself his name, as climax reached us simultaneously and he spilled into me and me over his hand, pooling against our conjoined groins and over our stomachs. He rocked inside of me for a few more dizzying moments before pulling out and there was a knock on the door.

'Light! Are you two alright?" It was Sayu, which meant we'd made a lot more noise than we'd thought, and I looked over at him as he stood up and grabbed a towel. He wiped himself off as his sister's voice, more distressed now, came again. "Light! This isn't funny!"

"We're both fine," he said as he tossed me the towel and I cleaned up as well. We heard her stomping off, obviously put off for being unable to see what had caused the commotion as most teenagers were curious about such things, and we both burst out laughing. He walked me to the door and I could see his parent's faces watching us from their window as I dialed Watari. "I'll see you at Headquarters tomorrow…Ryuuzaki, when this is over, I will make things work." I nodded and hoped someday it all _would_ be over, one way or another. And then he kissed me and slipped something into my back pocket as Watari pulled up to the curb. "Happy birthday, L," he whispered and I froze, tearing myself away from him to go to the awaiting car. It wasn't until I was home that I took the 'gift' from my pocket and looked at it. It was a small charm on a keychain that had the words _I love you_ engraved on it, and it was in the shape of an apple.

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A//N

Alrighty…Their addiction has been fed, your addiction has been fed. Now go feed _my_ addiction, please? In one simple word: Review. Actually, voting in my poll would be wonderful as well. ^-^


	17. Twisted Midnight::Chapter Seventeen

**Author's Note**;;

**OK SOOO THIS IS IMPORTANT PEOPLE, READ!!! I've decided I need ONE more chapter. I like how this one ends and also just feel like if I continued it would be too much in one chapter, and so I will drag this tale out and it will be an even #! YAY.**

**crazytopsparkles**;; It means SO much to me that you reacted that way to chapter fifteen. It did make me a bit misty-eyed as I wrote it, considering, well… you'll see. Sadly, all things must eventually end, and Twisted Midnight is one of those things. But I hope you'll stick around for the sequel.  
**Ragamuffin**;; LMFAO. I'm _quite_ glad to hear I don't bring you, erm, 'violent spasms.' And yes, there will most definitely be a sequel. As I was saying before. It'll probably wind up a bit 'out there,' as most of my ideas usually wind up, but if people are unhappy with it they don't have to read it.  
**Freakitten**;; Ah, as for my L, he'll be in the sequel, I promise. Besides, I think you'll like this chapter.  
**Shannara810**;; I feel like I should be apologizing, but, well, you'll see, I hope you aren't too angry with me when this is over, but I promise there will be LxLight goodies in the Sequel!

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Chapter Seventeen:

_Light is Kira_ My thoughts had one-tracked into that process, why else, then, would he give me a gift in the shape of an _apple_? My hand convulsed around the charm and I tossed it onto my bed, storming out of the room and heading for control and Watari. I ignored Aizawa as he approached me, seemingly wanting to speak to me about something, and just muttered, "Not now…" and he took the hint. Light was Kira, and he was going to kill me. I stopped moving, wondering if everything had been a lie, and leaned against the wall a bit less than halfway toward my destination. I put my back to it, sliding down and burying my hands in my face and took deep, even breaths. _Light is going to kill me_. Unless I could get him convicted first, that was.

I was shivering as I realized that it couldn't all have been lies and I remembered how sweet he had been to me, the soft caresses and the light touches. His smiles and the way they had lit up his eyes, eyes that had been only for me and free of Kira. Kira was controlling him again, that was the only logical explanation. And then I remembered the note book. It had a tremendous power to draw a person in, ensnare them until their mind warped, and that was what had happened to Light. If he had been Kira when this had all started, and then he had lost his memories somehow, then he was Kira again now. I just needed to prove it.

_L do you know…Shinigami…Love Apples._

I couldn't stop thinking about it, and the fact that the word love had been written on the apple was a taunt. Kira was taunting L, after all, Light had called me L when I'd been leaving. I needed to piece myself back together. Light loved me, he must have, if he hadn't then…I didn't want to think about it. But the apple, that was just mean. Ugh, this was obscene and completely unproductive! The apple didn't prove anything, and no one other than me would ever see it as any kind of evidence. I stood back up slowly and when I finally did make it to control Watari wasn't even there. I pulled out my cell and pressed the speed-dial, watching as his number appeared on the small LCD screen and then his voice picked up,

"Where are you?" I asked, before he'd even completed his greeting.

"I'm taking our latest guests to their preferred locations, as you asked of me." I frowned, recalling the conversation. That was right, Aiber and Wedy were leaving today and they each wanted to be dropped off. Aiber was headed to the airport, and I didn't know where Wedy was preferring to go.

"How long will you be gone?" I asked, my tone clipped.

"I shall be back in two days. Is there a problem? Should I arrange other transportation for Wedy?" I pinched the bridge of my nose and felt a headache coming on.

"No. Watari, do you remember the day Higuchi died?" He acknowledged he did and I went on, "Well…I know we had cameras installed in the helicopters. Where is the footage, have they been written over yet?" I hung up after he told me where they were and fished around for them, bringing the disks to my room and placing them next to the charm. What had he been doing when his back was turned, aside from checking to see if the names matched? I needed all the angles, I needed to be _sure_. But my hand trembled as I slipped in the first disk and hit the fast-forward button. I went too far and I flinched when I saw myself kiss his cheek, so sure he wasn't Kira, and I sat on the bed, head between my knees and feet firmly on the ground for once as I broke down.

I didn't cry, I refused to cry, and I wouldn't let him make me cry again. "I hate you, Light…" I murmured into the empty room. I hated everything about him with every part of me that was able to. I hated how he laughed, I hated how he smiled, and I hated that damned irresistible smirk and the glint in his eyes. I hated his hair, so perfectly brushed, and I hated how he dressed, immaculately, as if he were going out somewhere every time he put on clothes. But mostly I just hated _him_. And I hated that I loved him. Everything that he'd hidden from me…every breath that he took, I hated him for it all, and I didn't know what I would do once I managed to get him convicted. I was a selfish beast and even I could admit it.

There was a second Death Note out there somewhere, and I was guessing it was in the hands of one Misa Amane. True, he spent more time here or at his parent's house than with Misa, but that was probably only pretense. And then I sat and forced myself to watch all the recordings until I felt like my eyes would bleed and fall out. For almost a full three hours, which pushed me into November, I watched the screen until I found it, the right angle so to speak, and he messed with something in his _watch_. Still, there was no proof, no better angle, and I couldn't see what he was doing. But I made a phone call, and it was the only one I could think to make. I called his father. I _needed_ to know the truth about Light Yagami, and his real identity.

After I gave his father my speculative evidence against Light he wanted proof, naturally, and I agreed with him. I phoned Watari and connected all the calls, conferencing between the three of us to form a plan. Complicated, as always, but it would be effective. I knew Light very, very well to know how easily he would fall into this, especially if he were Kira. It took only five days to set the full extent in motion, but the true plan begun the moment I had hung up the phone. The pieces on the chess board had been set.

It had been exactly five days since I had _realized_ the man I was in love with was planning on killing me, exactly five days since my world was shattered. It had been exactly five days since I had learned that, in order to beat Kira, I had to die… And it had been five days since I had learned that if my enemy died, I didn't _want_ to live, anyway. It was the fifth of November when I called a meeting and staged my plan, turning the tides. I told the others I wanted to test the Death Note. I'd had Misa's place searched on the first and they'd found the Death Note while she was sleeping. We swapped it the next day for a fake copy, monitoring the names she wrote and broadcasting fake deaths of criminals to sate her. But there was still no concrete evidence of Light being Kira. And then there was Rem, the Shinigami. The remaining Ace up Light's sleeve so to speak. Rem who apparently would lie to protect Light, no…lie to protect Misa? Perhaps. And so I knew he would use Rem to kill me if given the chance, and I brought out the Death Note that had been in my custody. In that notebook, I wrote only my own name. All that led to me sitting at that table and telling the Team that I wanted to have inmates on Death Row in America test the notebook to see if the thirteen day rule was a fallacy.

In the two hours it took everyone to prepare for the new plan of action, I went up stairs. The roof was a seldom visited place and it was raining, no one would be looking for me here, anyway. Across the street a window was open on the top floor of the hotel and music blasted as if from a party and I actually envied them. They could have fun and party like anyone else, fall in and out of love like anyone else, and I was stuck with thoughts of _him_. The musician was female, as the vocals projected into the chilled night air, and I couldn't make the words out at first and then the volume got turned up and I had to choke back the fit of laughter that had overtaken me. _He was everything – everything that I wanted. We were meant to be, supposed to be, but we lost it._. "How fitting…" I said softly, standing and letting the rain wash over me. The song ended, drowned by the cacophony of sound from around me and below and then a new song took its place as the party continued. _It's hopeless don't it seem, when even in my dreams – you put me through Hell_. And underneath the different sounds, under the different sources of music be it Earthly or mundane, there was the sound of bells ringing in the distance. I needed to get off the roof or I was bound to make pointless connection after connection to every little thing that happened. _You were so mean; it's so obscene, when you meant everything to me. I'll see you in Hell_. And then that song ended as well and I moved to a different section of roof so I would be too far to hear the next one. One tear slipped from the corner of my left eye and mingled with the drops of rain already there. Just one, it was all I allowed myself for wallowing in my own folly and I turned, hearing the door open and saw _him_. We spoke of trivial matters, when taken in the grand scheme of things, and it didn't get either of us anywhere nearer our goals and I joined him once more inside when he beckoned. It was time, apparently, for Mr. Yagami to leave with Matsuda for the airport. And I dried his feet, not really knowing why, perhaps I was trying to extract a confession…or maybe I was just hoping to change his mind. I felt a towel on my forehead as he dried my hair and we just stared at each other for a moment and it felt like _before_. I was looking at _Light_ and my shattered heart beat painfully in my chest. The moment over we made out way downstairs to where the others were waiting.

Mr. Yagami had a metal suitcase handcuffed to his wrist with the Death Note inside of it, and he left, presumably for the airport. He and Matsuda were supposedly going on this wild goose chase I'd set in motion, and all to ensure that Light was Kira. In fact, Mr. Yagami had beat down my entire plan from the start, until I'd told him I was writing my own name in the note book. Still, he adamantly vouched for his son's innocence and somewhere part of me hoped he was right. My head knew he was wrong, but my heart, which already felt dead and broken, hoped he was right. _He_ had broken it and I felt empty inside, hollow, void where it still continued to beat regardless of how I felt. All that talk of souls people did, and I no longer felt like I had one.

And then the room was devoid of everyone save Light an I and I watched him; and I loved him. Even knowing who he was and what he had done, I hated myself for loving him. When I looked towards the future all I wanted was him, the Light I had known before his memories had been restored, before he'd become Kira again. I wanted _my_ Light back, I wanted my soul back. I'd added the charm to my keychain and it was the only thing on the main ring aside from actual keys as I'd never seen the point of the charms before. But I liked it, because it had been from _him_. I made him think I was relying on him to save me when we discussed that I had sent for Misa. He never once slipped, never once betrayed his false identity to me, and a sick part of me that enjoyed this game admired him for it. But I knew better now. I knew that in order for my plan to succeed I had to die, and I had to die _twice_. So when Watari entered with Misa and Rem disappeared I wasn't all too surprised, especially after Rem's mistake: mentioning Misa's lifespan dropping, which also let me know she cared. I looked at Light wondering if even he knew what Rem might do, but his face gave nothing away, as usual, and I went back to eating honey straight from the jar, the tiny spoon dangling like always between thumb and forefinger.

Watari had always been a wonderful inventor, and that had always been useful to L, and to me on a more personal level. I was just hoping his latest would work out – and then he fell. _No! It wasn't supposed to be like that!_ It was all I had time to think as I hit a button on my keyboard that triggered two things. One zoomed in on Watari, and the other caused my heart to tremble, and then I was falling sideways and I felt _him_ catch me, cradling my head just before it hit the floor and I gazed into his eyes and his own widened. He was surprised, if even a little, and only for a moment and my head said, _Not Kira_. And then he _smirked_ at me and whispered, "Checkmate."

I had time to think _I…I wasn't…I wasn't wrong_, and then it hit me. He was Kira, Light was Kira, and he had arranged my death. And just like that first kiss, I'd never given much thought to how this moment would go; the moment of my death. With Watari down I wasn't positive my plan would work anymore, and I clutched at him and all I wanted to ask was _why_? And as my eyes drifted closed even as my heart proved it was still alive, in its last moments, I could only think one thing: _So much for my Happy Ending_.

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A//N

Riiiiggghhhttt sooooo

ONE MORE CHAPTER. This is also for everyone who said "Don't end this story!"


	18. Twisted Midnight::Chapter Eighteen

**Author's Note**;;

Last chapter, for real this time! And the poll results are in. I'm writing the sequel next. ^_^ After that I will write this one over from Light's POV.

OK, next order of business. I said in the beginning that I would mix and match from the manga/anime/movies and I am, but I am also making this A/U altogether and putting my own spin on things to better help set up my sequel. I'm sorry if you wind up not liking it, and you are more than welcome to tell me so, but please don't flame! I _did_ warn you guys!

**Shannara810**;; Well –takes a deep breath- I hope this ending is intriguing and satisfying enough for now.

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Chapter Eighteen:

The next thing I saw was Mogi's face hovering above mine and it was clear he'd performed CPR on me, a portable AED device on the floor beside where I'd fallen…where he'd _caught_ me. And then I was up, following the plan and muttering a "Thanks" to Mogi, but I didn't really mean it. "The others…they – they saw?" He nodded and I was relieved, but at the same time…_Light really arranged my death_. In the end he'd been triumphant, gloating, at the fact that I was dying.

I watched from the monitors as Misa and he met up and she handed him another Death Note, the fake one we'd planted in her place, and it was solid. Not only had they heard Light say checkmate, they saw this with their own eyes. Mr. Yagami came into the room and handed me the Death Note from the case he'd been carrying and I instructed him to get back in the car, my voice monotonous and strained. And then _he_ started writing in it as if he were at ease with the practice and Misa's face bunched up, "But…your father!" I'd had enough and I sent the signal and the van Mr. Yagami had been in could be seen entering the driveway once more and I walked out of the room, taking my precarious position on the floor on the wrap-around balcony that was above the room Light was in and I watched, trying not to be seen. But his eyes were only for the Death Note now, and for his father as the man walked into the room with the case.

When his plan didn't seem to be succeeding I made my entrance, smirking as I said it was a shame we hadn't been friends. We'd been so much more. We hated, no, loathed each other and we loved each other; but we'd never simply been friends. I showed him my name, and what I had written.

_L Lawliet – November 6__th__, 00:00 Hours._

It had seemed so easy, so right, that I should die in that twisted midnight

And we never would be, either. And then he was messing with his watch again and Matsuda shot it off, and _he_ made a dive for it only to get shot in the leg. My face remained passive as I distanced myself from the scene, removing _Light_ from the equation and then he was pleading with the Death God, Ryuk. He'd been shot a few more times and I had to look away a moment to get my reactions under my control, and I saw Ryuk take out his own Death Note. _I hadn't been expecting this_.

"I did warn you that when the time came I would be the one writing your name in my note book, Light." And then Light spasmed and fell, his father catching him and I felt a gut-wrenching, knee-jerk reaction within me to go to Light. Instead I stood slowly, fighting every instinct in me to run to him, to _comfort_ the murdering bastard. When he'd thought I was dying at least he'd given me so much, but I didn't. He didn't _deserve_ it. That was what I told myself as my legs carried me forward and I knelt on his other side, my hand brushing his cheek gently and his own came up to meet mine, but he never finished the motion. His head fell back, eyes still open and in my direction, and then he was _gone_. There was something infinitely chilling about watching someone die. The way the light left their eyes and the glow of their skin vanished. The force that animated them was gone, and it was obvious. And if you watched long enough, if the eyes of the corpse were open, they deflated. I didn't want to see that and I brushed my hand down across them, closing the lids, and jerked away once more. He was still warm…and I? I was in Hell.

I heard a gunshot from the next room and was on my feet, running and wondering what the Hell had happened and where Mr. Yagami had gone. He was on the floor, a hole in the side of his head oozing blood, and my fists curled up in rage. I looked around for any sign of the Shinigami, but he was gone. And the room felt dead as we planned what we would say about Light's death – that he'd been Kira's _victim, _in fact they had _both_ been. And it was true, the power to kill had been what had started all of this, this huge debacle we found ourselves in. This macabre scene that felt straight out of Macbeth, with the dead littering the floor literally or figuratively. I crossed to where his watch lay in pieces and fit them back together, jerking the mechanism like I'd seen him do. The lower compartment slid out and inside was a single shred of paper with Higuchi's name written on it in blood, along with a needle. So that was what he'd been doing? I pocketed the watch and went back to his body, searching his pockets and was stumped to find two things of mine in them. First, the small spoon that I had dropped when I'd fallen, and the next was the keychain he'd given me.

I slipped his watch on my own wrist and set the alarm for eleven fifty-nine pm, and then plucked my keys from my pocket and noticed it was gone, and I fit it back in place, tears stinging my eyes. _He did love me_. Somehow, somewhere beneath that tough exterior, there _had_ been love. I ignored the police as they asked what I was doing and why I was tampering with evidence and I grabbed the note book that had my name in it and brought it into yet another room with me. Watari – he was my biggest regret in all of this, my final failure. And it would be the final one because this, this was the end of L. Even if I didn't die, I no longer wanted to be a detective. I would find some other way to help the world. I would _never_ resort to such measures as Light had, but now I understood it had seemed the easy thing to do. Humans sometimes must face the toughest choice of all when it came to their dreams; they had to choose between the most difficult of ultimatums. Should they choose the morally right path to achieve their dream, or the easy path? It was a harder choice to traverse the road less traveled and most often chose the easy way out, even if it meant doing things they weren't necessarily proud of. It was then I noticed something sitting on the coffee table in front of me and my eyes widened. It was actually two things and I leaned forward, fingering them gently and examining them in my hands. The first was another Death Note, and the second thing was an eraser.

I heard a familiar laugh behind me and turned, seeing Ryuk with yet another Shinigami I had never seen before. The newcomer was tall, glittering with gems, and the two were looking at me strangely. I flipped to the back of the new Shinigami's book and read, _Light Yagami_. But because I had touched the other Death Note, the one Misa had been using since the death of Higuchi, I could still see Ryuk. And now there were three Death Notes in this world. The one that had started it all, the one that Higuchi had been using last, and now this one. I left the room once more and came back, carrying the third Death Note and ripped off the cover, recalling a rule that mentioned if the cover was removed from the Death Note the note book was rendered useless. And now we were back to two as Ryuk watched me like I was some sort of entertainment. "This is rather entertaining, Ryuk…" the bejeweled one spoke and Ryuk merely laughed once more, his gaze never leaving me as I picked up the eraser.

And suddenly I was faced with The Choice. I could choose the morally strong path, or I could choose the path of The Fool. I was human, the odds were I would choose the more foolish of the two, but I put the eraser down with a shaking hand and checked the clock. Eleven-ten at night, only fifty minutes until I would…die. I had to look, curiosity was digging into my side and since I knew it wouldn't be the death of me, and I checked. Light was still lying on the floor, the room now deserted and I walked over to him, lifting the white sheet that covered his body as we waited for an ambulance to arrive and take the him. And I pulled out a small remote-control from my pocket and pressed the shiny red button in the center, the one everyone always joked not to push, and all the cameras in the building shut off at once.

I hastily headed to the other room once more and grabbed the two note books, the eraser and the mess that was left of the third book and put them in a bag. I slung it over my shoulder as I picked Light up, struggling with the dead weight and I brought him to the garage of the building, taking shortcuts I'd built into the place in case I ever needed a swift exit. I put him in the backseat of the limo, covering him with a blanket so now one would see him, and as I sat behind the wheel of the car I mentally berated myself, knowing what I was doing was wrong. I merged into traffic and just drove, not really sure where I was going, until I hit a sad-looking motel and once again checked the time. _Twenty minutes_. I checked into the dingy-looking place a bit forlornly and carried _him_ into the room I was renting under yet another alias. Hell, the place hadn't even asked me for proof of my identity, which just went to show its caliber.

I laid him on the bed and carefully extracted each bullet with a pair of tweezers from the first aid kit that had been in the car and then I went into the bathroom, closed the door behind me, and I did the unthinkable. I had always been a man of genius, of calculations and numbers, until Light. And I was selfish, too. I was spoiled and got whatever I wanted when I wanted it. But no, when the time came and I put the eraser to the paper to take off _his_ name, I faltered. My sense of justice overtook me and I put them back down, ignoring the strange, probing stares from the Shinigami behind me and I said, "Neither of these books belong to me, therefore I cannot forfeit ownership. This one," I picked it up, "Belonged to Light…or so I would imagine." I handed it to Ryuk, the one that had my name in it, and then I turned to face the other one. "And this one, I suppose you put it in front of me therefore I own it?" I thought about that for a moment and said, "I forfeit ownership of this Death Note," and handed it back to him before going back into the bedroom and, laying on the bed as far away from Light's body as possible, I just looked at him. Even in death he was beautiful, but I hadn't the heart to bring him back to life. My watch beeped and I raised it up, counting down from sixty as the seconds ticked by. Well, it wasn't really _my_ watch; it had been Light's, after all. The piece of Death Note that had been in it was long gone, confiscated by the Police, and I breathed the last few aloud. "Ten…Nine…" I shifted closer towards Light, feeling the weight of mortality against my chest. "Eight, Seven, Six…" My hand not adorned with the watch clasped his empty, cold right one. "Five…Four…" And I realized with a jolt we were in reverse position of what felt _right_. "Three…Two…" He should have been on my right, that was always how it had been with the hand-cuffs. "One." And my heart pounded for the second time in less than twenty-four hours and I buried my face in Light's shirt and it still _smelled_ like Light. _I solved the Kira case…I figured out who had killed B…and I'd fallen in love in the process. Maybe this is just it, after all, if no one who's ever used the Death Note can go to either Heaven or Hell, he and I are both destined for this 'Mu' place, right? At least we'll be together…I guess this_ is_ my Happy Ending._

Fin…

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A//N

WHOAH!!!!!

I mean, WHOAH!!!!!!!!

Yeah, A/U, but I warned youuu!!! ^-^

Alright, I admit, I didn't even know how I wanted it to end. it just sort of write itself!

Now, was that what you were expecting?

Reviews are yummy, please don't flame.


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